A Pirate's Life For Me
by GrimmIchiForeva
Summary: Lame title. Anyway. Luffy and the gang are having a calm, peaceful day when the sky is 'zipped' open, and an orange-haired stranger falls right into their lives. Ichigo finds that being a pirate is fun, but the devil-fruit thing still confuses him. Yaoi
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Not much to warn about in this chapter... Just kissing. It'll get worse later one though, promise. haha! **

_Main pairings to be expected: GrimmIchi, LuffyXIchigo, Zolu._

_There will be plenty more side pairings and hints of others_

This chapter is going to be a tad bit slow, because I need to to introduce everyone and stuff like that... but i hope you enjoy it anyway

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**Chapter 1**

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The air was cool and the sky was a rich blue, apart from a few clouds that could be seen, and the only sounds to be heard were soft splashing. Even the usually raging sea was extremely calm that day as it carefully cradled their ship atop its crystal clear surface. Not even the wind could disturb the peaceful quiet as it pushed against the sails, making them flap gently.

In other words—it was very boring.

Especially to a certain raven-haired captain.

"Sanjiii!" Luffy whined pitifully as he rested his head against the dinner table. His dark eyes watched longingly as the blonde-haired cook, Sanji, started setting up some plates.

"Dammit Luffy! I'm almost done, but if you keep bothering me than I'll only give you vegetables! How does that sound!" The grumpy man barked with a glare, but the captain seemed unfazed.

"You wouldn't do that." Luffy said, a huge grin taking over his face, making Sanji roll his eyes…. _Eye_.

"You wanna bet?" The blond growled, his expression deathly serious.

Luffy stuck out his bottom lip in a pout and tilted his head so that his cheek rested against the wood. "You seem extra cranky today…" He mumbled just loud enough for Sanji to hear him, and before the cook could drop-kick Luffy—said captain was out the door and running around on deck with the grin back on his face. "SheeHeeHee!"

"Oi Marimo!" Sanji called to the snoozing swordsman from the doorway.

Zoro slowly opened one of his eyes when he heard one of his many nicknames and looked around until he saw the cook's blond head. With a long sigh, he closed his eye and it looked as if he was about to fall back asleep.

"Whaddaya want, Ero-cook?" He grumbled, knowing that the other could clearly hear him even though they were a good distance away from each other.

"Kill Luffy for me while I finish setting up lunch!" Was his answer, making Zoro smirk.

"Will do." He said with a yawn and just as he opened his eyes, he saw the trouble-making captain running in his direction. When Luffy was about to pass by, Zoro quickly reached up and grabbed a handful of the other's yellow shirt. Luffy blinked in surprise when he was pulled down and he laughed as he bounced on impact, but then his laughter died in his throat when he felt his first-mate's arm wrap around his shoulders tightly, making it impossible to escape.

The raven-haired captain blinked and slowly looked up at the swordsman, suddenly feeling as if he had done something wrong.

The playful smirk on Zoro's face told him otherwise though.

"So what'd you do to upset dart-board-brow this time?"

Luffy laughed and leaned against his first mate. "Nothinggg!" He said as another laugh bubbled out of his throat.

"Well quit being a pain in the ass before he decides to fry you up and use you as bait for the sea kings." Zoro sighed while ruffling the other's short hair.

"Well, that sounds better than what _he_ threatened to do…" Luffy's grin drooped into a frown at that, piquing Zoro's interest.

"What was he gonna do?"

Luffy puffed out his cheeks in another pout and crossed his arms as he answered, "He was going to make me eat a bunch of vegetables… with no meat!" He then proceeded to dramatically fall to the floor, as if that was the worst kind of punishment you could give him.

Zoro let another small smirk tease his lips as he stared at the energetic captain.

"Oi Luffy. I think Franky just put out the 'Surprise Pool' for Chopper and Usopp."

That's all that needed to be said to cheer up Luffy.

Two seconds later found the teen in the pool, clad in his swimsuit and floaties (just in case). He was splashing around with his friends.

"Hey! Hey Luffy! Look!" Usopp called and when his captain turned to look, he raised his arms and stood on one leg as he spit out a mouthful of water, imitating a fountain statue.

Luffy and Chopper laughed and clapped their hands together.

Meanwhile, Zoro was back to napping, Franky was sitting near the mast with Brook as he tinkered with some contraption, Robin and Nami were busy soaking in the sun on their lawn chairs as Sanji served them small appetizers.

It was just another peaceful day for the pirates.

But all good things come to an end some time.

Everyone froze and all noises ceased when the sky turned dark, but it wasn't the kind of dark that was made by clouds blocking the sun—it seemed thicker than that. Luffy and the others looked up and their eyes widened at the sight that greeted them.

"W-what is that!" Usopp shouted first, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

Nobody answered him. They were too busy inspecting the thing that hovered a few stories above them—a thing that could only be described as a huge hole in the sky.

"N-Nami! Is this some sort of cyclone? Or a tornado!" Usopp continued to babble as he started crying out of fear.

"No." Nami answered instantly. Then she stood up from her chair and removed her sunglasses in order to get a better look. "I would've been able to sense it before," She continued, "This is… I… I don't know." She whispered.

The straw-hat pirates tensely waited for something terrible to happen.

"Look!" Chopper pointed one of his hoofs upwards—as if everybody wasn't already looking up—and they all watched as something fell out of the gaping hole. As soon as it was out, the strange vortex-like hole actually _zipped_ closed and then disappeared.

Everyone jumped slightly when they heard a scream from above.

"It's a person!" Franky shouted, getting everyone's attention.

"Someone should catch them!" Brook screeched while running around in circles.

Nami ran towards the back of the ship and gasped, "Luffy! The person's coming towards you! Hurry! Whoever it is is falling faster!"

"Got it!" Luffy shouted, determination locked on his face.

Jumping onto the edge of the pool, Luffy quickly stretched out his rubbery arms and grabbed hold of the person just as they were about to crash into the water. "Yosh!" Luffy cheered as his arms started reeling in, with the stranger still yelling.

The crew winced and sighed as the two collided (due to Luffy being unable to stop his arms). There was a loud '_clonk'_ as both of their heads bashed together and then they fell backwards into the pool.

Usopp and Chopper quickly helped them up before they could drown.

Everyone else gathered at the back of the ship so they could see what was happening.

"Is everyone okay?" Sanji asked.

Chopper nodded, "Yes! We're fine! They knocked each other unconscious though…" the little reindeer sighed as Usopp dragged both limp bodies to the edge of the pool. "Reel us in Franky!"

"Super!" Was Franky's immediate reply as he ran inside the ship, Thousand Sunny. The others watched as the pool was pulled back in. As soon as it was inside, all the water drained back out.

Chopper shook himself to rid the water from his coat and then he turned into his human form. "Usopp, carry Luffy. We should bring them to my office so they can lie down." He explained before picking up the stranger.

Once everybody was inside the infirmary, they were able to get a good look at the person.

He was obviously a guy—judging from the flat, chiseled chest (Chopper had taken off his and Luffy's soaked clothing and only dressed them in clean shorts). The guy also had a smooth, handsome face and tannish skin, but the most noticeable part of him was his hair. It was short, spiked, and a garishly bright orange. It was even more orange than Nami's.

Other than that, the only other odd thing about the guy was the fact that he had a death grip on a huge sword. Well—it didn't really look like a sword; it was more like a butcher knife that was the length of his whole body.

"Who is he…?" Sanji sounded the question that everyone was thinking, but no one could really answer.

"Do you think he's a bounty hunter?" Usopp inquired accusingly as he hid behind Zoro.

"It's possible…" Robin said, making the sniper squeak in fear.

"Well I'm sure we'll get to know more about him once he wakes up." Chopper said, going into doctor-mode, but before he could push everyone out, they all froze when both Luffy and the stranger started groaning.

Luffy was the first to sit up and he whined as he rubbed at his forehead.

"That kinda hurt…" He grumbled before looking around at his surroundings. It took him a second to realize he was in Chopper's office/infirmary. And then it took him another second to see his whole crew standing in front of him, but they were all looking somewhere to his right.

Blinking, Luffy slowly followed their gazes and then grinned when he saw the guy who fell from the big hole in the sky.

"Hey!" Luffy greeted loudly as he jumped over to the side of the guy's bed, but there was no reaction. He still seemed a little dazed, and his eyes were half-lidded, as if he was about to fall back asleep.

"Wha…?" He mumbled. Awareness was taking its time as it flooded back into him. He blinked his chocolate-brown eyes a couple of times to clear his blurry vision, but then they widened as they fell to a man with light-blue hair standing in front of him.

Luffy watched in surprise as the guy disappeared all of a sudden and then reappeared right in front of Franky. The cyborg grunted in surprise and slight pain as his back collided with the floor. He raised a brow when the stranger settled on top of his chest, but then his eyes narrowed when the long sword was pressed against his neck.

Everyone else couldn't do much else besides watch, but each of them got out their weapons and went into an offense stance in case things got out of hand.

"What'd you do, Grimmjow!" The guy growled accusingly at Franky, but his eyes were squinted and wavering slightly.

"Wait a sec, bro! My name's Franky." The cyborg explained, which seemed to help.

The stranger sat up straight in surprise and then he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. He blinked a couple of times before looking back down. "Shit!" He cursed before quickly jumping to his feet and backing away. "Sorry! I saw your hair and I thought you were…" His voice died in his throat when he looked around and finally noticed all the hostile looks he was getting.

Luffy stepped in between the guy and Franky before finally unclenching his hands, which signaled everyone else to lower their weapons.

"Who are you?" Luffy demanded, but the orange-headed guy didn't seem to hear him. The guy furrowed his brows in confusion and looked down at his sword. Then he looked back up at everyone.

"You guys… can see me?" He asked, sounding utterly bewildered, which caused the others to look confused too.

"Why wouldn't we be able to see you?" Robin asked, suddenly very interested in the stranger, but before he could answer, Luffy stepped forward until he was directly in front of him. They were about the same height, so it was easy for Luffy to stare into the other's eyes.

"Who _are_ you?" He repeated the question with more force.

"Oh…" The orangette said and then he set down his sword on the bed. He looked around the room before answering, "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo."

Luffy stared at him for a few seconds, as if willing himself to remember the name, and then he grinned broadly, which seemed to put the other guy a little more at ease.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy! And this is my crew!" He said while gesturing to himself and then to his Nakama.

"Crew…?" Ichigo echoed curiously and then he looked confused again.

"Yeah! We're pirates!" Luffy stated proudly, and everyone nodded.

Ichigo was silent for another minute and when he opened his mouth, all that came out was a loud laugh. Everyone seemed taken aback by the strange reaction.

"Pirates? Like actual _pirates_?" The teen asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Well… yeah." Luffy said, not really knowing how to react to this guy's amused attitude.

"So I'm on a pirate ship right now…?" He asked with another small laugh.

Luffy nodded.

"And if I go outside, we'd be on the ocean?"

Another nod.

"And if I were to look up, I'd see an actual Jolly Roger flag?"

Nod.

"Okay, I knew I must be dreaming, but this is just ridiculous. I'm never watching the history channel before going to sleep again." Ichigo sighed "And that explains why you guys can see me."

Luffy narrowed his eyes. This guy had just laughed at the fact that they were pirates, and it rubbed his pride the wrong way.

"So you think this is a dream?" Luffy asked with this blank look on his face.

Zoro sighed and quietly gestured for everyone to stand back a little.

Ichigo noticed the sudden change and quickly grabbed his sword.

"Well of course it is! Unless I got sent into the past, there's no way I'm on a Pirate ship! There aren't any **real** pirates left!" Ichigo explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

This caught Luffy off guard.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, eyes wide.

Ichigo kept up his defensive position as he continued, "I mean that pirates with jolly rogers and actual wood ships are just from stories. Kids dress up like pirates for Halloween, and people make movies of them, but that's it."

"Halloween? Movies?" Luffy repeated, baffled. "What're you talking about?"

Everyone else was thinking the same thing.

"Oh god… I really _was_ sent to the past!" Ichigo slapped his own forehead in frustration and then he placed his sword back on the bed. "Look… Do you guys have a map or something?"

Nami was instantly in front of him, making him jump.

"Yes actually! I have lots of maps!" She said.

Luffy watched quietly as Nami grabbed hold of the orangette's hand and began dragging him away. Zoro and he locked eyes.

"I'll go with them. You guys can continue what you were doing before." Luffy explained and the others nodded hesitantly. He quickly put on his straw hat before walking out the door.

When he entered the library, where Nami and Ichigo were, he paused when he noticed that they were arguing. Curious, Luffy quickly jogged over.

"What's going on?" He asked and he backed up a little when both pairs of angry eyes settled on him.

"She's showing me fake maps!"

"HE KEEPS CALLING MY MAPS FAKE!"

Luffy blinked and looked down at the maps spread out on the table.

"They look real to me…"

Ichigo sighed and rubbed at his temples slowly.

"Alright fine… Just tell me where we are then."

Sighing in irritation, Nami quickly pulled out another map and then pointed to a certain spot.

"Right now we're here."

Ichigo brows furrowed. "I'm… confused." He admitted, looking lost.

Nami shook here head.

"Where're you from?" She asked.

Ichigo rubbed his temples again as he answered. "Karakura… It's in Japan."

Luffy and Nami gave him strange looks.

"Is that somewhere on the Grandline?" Luffy asked.

"Grandline? You mean the Equator?" Ichigo still looked lost.

"What?" Now it was Nami's turn to look confused.

All three of them looked at each other, not knowing exactly where to go from there.

"I think I know what's going on." Robin said, appearing out of nowhere.

Ichigo jumped and whipped around to glare at the woman, but then he relaxed when she just smiled at him.

"What're you talking about, Robin?" Nami demanded. She was beginning to get frustrated with the stranger.

"I think it's safe to assume that he's from a completely different dimension." The older woman explained while slowly looking Ichigo up and down. The teen raised a brow and looked at her like she had just told him he was a koala bear.

Luffy's eyes doubled in size and a huge grin split his face. When he turned to look at Ichigo, stars were shining in his eyes.

"THAT'S SO COOOL!" he exclaimed and then he started to poke the orangette in random places, as if he inspecting a new species of animal. Ichigo scowled and tried to swat the persistent male away.

Nami shook her head in bewilderment. "That's not possible… is it?"

The archeologist laughed lightly in amusement before answering, "I don't see why not. He obviously has no idea where he is. He said that pirates don't exist anymore—which we all know that pirates are quite common around this world. He doesn't recognize the maps, yet he knows exactly where he lives. And we all saw the hole he fell out of. It's quite plausible that he isn't from this world." Everyone grew quiet at her explanation, and Ichigo seemed to be contemplating it.

"Orange-san" Robin called gently, instantly getting the stranger's attention. "What's the last thing you remember?" She asked.

He shrugged and held up his hand as he counted off what happened.

"Well I remember going to Urahara's shop—he's a strange old guy that I know—then I went down in his basement for some training… Grimmjow came down to join in because he's a freak who likes to fight… Then uhm. I remember we ended up beating the shit out of each other. Urahara came down to check on us… E—… Everything else is blank." Ichigo scratched his head as he tried to remember more, but his mind was fuzzy, and his head was beginning to hurt.

"Hmm… Maybe you'll remember something over time. But for now, I suppose you have a lot of questions for us." Nami sighed while gesturing for him to take a seat.

They all sat down. Nami and Robin were seated on one side while the guys were on the other. Luffy had scooted his chair right next to Ichigo's and was staring at him with big, curious eyes.

"So uhm… If he's your captain," Ichigo gestured towards Luffy, "Then who and what're you guys?"

Robin smiled and answered first.

"My name is Nico Robin and I'm the ships archeologist. I'm studying our world's history." She explained and then it was Nami's turn.

"I'm Nami. I'm the Navigator. These guys wouldn't be able to get anywhere without me." She declared with a smirk, making Luffy laugh. "I'm drawing a map of the world." Ichigo's face turned red with guilt when she gestured towards the maps from before.

"Ah… Sorry about calling them fake." He mumbled, looking sullen. Nami waved it off though.

"So what else do you want to know?"

Ichigo tapped his fingers together as he thought.

"Uhh… I'm not sure. I guess you should just tell me about your… _world_ and if there's anything I should be careful of."

Before he could receive an answer though, Sanji came walking through the door. Luffy's grin widened when he noticed the small pile of clothes in the blonde's arms. "Here." He said, his cigarette moving as he spoke. He tossed the clothing to the two half-naked guys.

"Thanks." Ichigo offered as he looked over the clothes handed to him. The top was a dark blue, Hawaiian, button-up shirt and the pants were black, long and baggy.

Luffy quickly put on his vest and pants while Ichigo got dressed at a slower pace.

Ichigo looked down at himself, realizing that the clothes were a little big, especially the shirt, but they were still wearable. He was about to try and button up the shirt, but he was surprised to see that there were no buttons.

Sanji noticed his confused look.

"That's Franky's shirt. He never buttons them up, so he just takes all the buttons off." He explained with a shrug. Ichigo's face flushed in guilt once again when he recognized the name 'Franky'. It was the guy he had attacked. "And those are my pants. Sorry that they're a little big."

Ichigo shook his head and shrugged while looking to the side.

"It's fine. These are actually more comfortable than my hakama and haori anyway." He grumbled while shifting around nervously.

"Mhm… Anyway. Lunch is ready. So you guys better come get something to eat."

As soon as the word 'lunch' came out, Luffy was already out the door.

"FOOOOOODD!"

Zoro and the others quickly grabbed as much food as they wanted before Luffy came crashing through the door, his mouth watering.

"Food!" Their captain quickly pounced into the nearest seat and began devouring the feast as if he were a starving man.

Franky laughed at Luffy's eager spirit but then he went silent when the door opened again, revealing Nami, Robin, Sanji (who was praising the two women while doing his noodle-dance), and, last but not least, a very nervous-looking orangette, clad in one of his shirts and Sanji's old pants. Everyone slowly went silent as they watched Ichigo walk towards the table, except Luffy, who was nomming away at his steak.

The guy took a step back and then he looked like he was about to turn around and leave, but Zoro stopped him by grabbing hold of his arm. The green-headed swordsman sighed and pulled the teen onto the empty seat between himself and Luffy. "Eat." Was all he said, and, surprisingly, that one word made Ichigo's shoulders relax, and the tension in his brow went away.

"Okay guys! Listen up!" Nami shouted as she remained standing. Everyone froze mid-bite and looked up at the woman (who was known to hit them if they didn't pay attention) "Ichigo is probably going to be staying with us for a while, so I want you guys to introduce yourselves."

It was quiet for a second and the tension was starting to bubble up again. Usopp slapped his hands on the table and glared at the stranger accusingly. "I'm not about to introduce myself to someone who could possibly be a Bounty Hunter! Or what if he's with the government!"

Luffy glared at Usopp in turn and threw a spoon at him.

"He's not a part of the navy, and he's not a bounty hunter!" Luffy shouted, and then he grinned and wrapped an arm around Ichigo's shoulder (invading the poor lad's personal space once again). "He's an alien from outer space!"

Their eyes widened at that and they looked at Ichigo and then back at Luffy, wondering if it was true, since their captain tended to let his imagination get the best of him.

"No I'm not!" Ichigo exclaimed as he tried to pry the raven-haired teen off of him.

Robin chuckled.

"What Luffy means is that Ichigo may not be from this world or dimension. So you don't have to worry about him being a threat to us." She explained.

And just like that, the tension in the air dissipated completely.

"Really!" Brook, Chopper, and Usopp all gasped and then they hopped up and dog piled on top of the poor teen. The others laughed as Ichigo tried to burrow his way out, but then he let out a frightened shout when his hands suddenly grabbed hold of Brook's skull.

Literally.

Since he was only bones.

Yohohohoho!

"W-what the hell! Are you a Hollow?" Ichigo shouted while quickly crawling backwards until he hit the wall.

Brook Yohoho'd and stood up.

"I'm not sure what a Hollow is, but you can be assured that I'm human. I ate a Devil Fruit which brought me back to life, but by the time I found my body, it was already just bones." He explained.

Ichigo looked up at him in confusion.

"Devil Fruit?"

Everyone gaped at him in disbelief.

"You really _aren't_ from this world if you don't know what a Devil Fruit is."

Ichigo scowled at that. He never liked not knowing something. It made him feel like he was stupid.

"Devil Fruits," Robin began, "are very rare and strangely shaped fruits. Whenever a person eats one, they gain a power. Each fruit's ability is unique, and there are a couple different types."

Ichigo nodded, trying hard to grasp this concept.

"But in exchange for the power, you are unable to swim. Once you go underwater, you completely freeze up, and then you drown."

The teen's eyes widened at that.

"So… Are you the only one with a… Devil Fruit power?" He asked while looking towards Brook. The Skeleton-man shook his head and pointed towards the others.

Ichigo's eyes nearly fell out of his head when Luffy grinned and stretched his cheek as if he were made of…

"I'm a rubber man. I ate the GomGom Fruit."

"O-okay." The shocked teen said and then he watched as a little reindeer-like creature hopped up to him. It sort of reminded him of Kon.

"You too…?"

The creature nodded and then all of a sudden it grew to the size of a grown man, and even its antlers disappeared.

"I'm a Zoan type. I was once a reindeer but now I have the abilities of a man too. I also have other forms." Chopper explained before turning back to his regular, little form. Ichigo gulped when Chopper walked up to him. "My name is Tony Tony Chopper. I'm a doctor." He held up his little hoof and Ichigo awkwardly shook it with his thumb and forefinger.

"Nice to meet you…" Ichigo mumbled, making the little reindeer (somehow) blush and dance strangely.

"Even if you're nice to me, it doesn't make me happy, asshole." Says the creature that's laughing and smiling like an idiot.

Ichigo chuckled.

"I have one also." The archeologist said and all Ichigo saw was a bunch of sakura blossoms before they were suddenly replaced by many, many hands. They were sprouting all around him.

Luffy watched with a grin as the guy freaked out, but then he frowned when Ichigo disappeared—just like he'd done before.

"How do you do that!" Luffy shouted when he saw that Ichigo was now on the other side of the room.

'_It's almost like what the CP9 were able to do…'_

The orangette was still staring at Robin's arms in amazement, but once they disappeared, he was finally able to move his lips.

"U-uhm… It was a Shunpo. Most Shinigami can do it." He explained while doing a couple more Shunpos until he was sitting down again.

"S-s-s-s-shinigami!" Usopp gulped and quickly hid behind Franky.

Ichigo quirked a brow at that.

"Yea. But I'm only part Shinigami. I'm also human. And I guess technically I'm a vizard too." He mumbled before eating a piece of steak with sauce on it. He was about to eat another piece but he paused mid-bite when he noticed everyone giving him strange looks. "Right… you guys wouldn't know what I'm talking about… Well I don't have my human body with me, so I can't show you that, but I _can_ show you this."

Luffy and the others watched as he stood up and then crouched. He raised his hand up to his face and a strange surge of power was starting to seep into the room, making Zoro instinctively reach for his swords. In one swift movement, Ichigo pulled down his hand, and a mask suddenly appeared over his face. It was bone-white, with two long, red, parallel lines trailing down the front.

Luffy's eyes turned to stars once again.

"AWESOME! What is that!" He asked, not at all fazed by the strange and evil power that emanated from said mask.

"This…" Ichigo's voice sounded distorted. "Is a hollow mask."

Before anyone could ask, he began explaining everything. And as he explained, everyone else slowly finished eating.

(I didn't feel like typing everything down, and I'm sure that those of you who are Bleach fans don't want to read a bunch of stuff that you already know.)

Once Ichigo was finished, it was the crews turn to explain more about their world. How the Navy was their enemy and everything else, including the rest of the introductions.

At the end, Ichigo had on this confused look.

"You guys aren't what I expected pirates to be like… but for some reason, I'm not all that disappointed." He said, more to himself than to the others.

"Don't worry… if you're here long enough, then you'll get to see plenty of action and excitement." Zoro sighed as he stood up and left the room. Ichigo watched him go before turning back, only to see that everyone else was also leaving.

"Hey Ichi-bro."

The orangette jumped slightly and turned to see who had called him.

'_what's with the strange nicknames? First orange-san, now Ichi-bro?_'

"Yea?" He asked while looking up at Franky's large form.

"Want me to show you around?"

Luffy tilted his head and watched from his spot on Sunny's lion head as Franky started dragging their new friend around. It'd only been a few minutes, but Luffy already felt like Ichigo was part of the crew.

"Don't even think about it…"

Luffy blinked and looked over to see Sanji leaning back on the railing, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips.

Luffy was about to ask what the blond was talking about, but Sanji started talking first.

"I recognize that look in your eyes… You want Ichigo to join our crew, but you have to think, Luffy… He's from a different place. He doesn't know anything about our world, and we don't even know if he can fight well. He may end up being a burden…" Sanji explained bluntly. Luffy jutted out his lower lip in a pout, but he didn't say anything back. He knew that Sanji was right… But he was pretty sure that Ichigo could fight well.

Why else would he carry around a huge sword and be able to move around so quickly.

"Okay Sanji…" Luffy finally said, but Sanji wasn't convinced. He knew his captain was brash, but he hoped that Luffy would use his head and think about this, because he wasn't going to warn his captain again.

"Okay… Well I better go see what Nami wants for dinner." Sanji disappeared up the stairs with hearts in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Ichigo smiled to himself as he watched Sanji and Zoro get into another silly argument that included lots of name-calling. It was fun listening to the different names they made up for each other, and it kind of reminded him of himself and Renji.<p>

Renji…

Man… He was really starting to miss everyone, and it hasn't even been a whole day.

Ichigo was still trying to make himself believe this was some fucked up dream, but the more he hung around this strange crew, the more he started to doubt that.

Right now they were all hanging around outside, under the stars. They were sitting in a deformed-looking circle on the grass, with some drinks set beside them.

Ichigo stared up at the millions upon millions of bright stars that littered the sky.

"Hey, you okay?"

He stiffened slightly when he felt that being whispered softly into his ear. He turned his head to see Nami looking at him with slight concern. He smiled and nodded his head.

"I'm fine."

Nami smiled back, but what she did next caught the teen off guard.

"Are you sure?" She asked while fluttering her lashes and placing a hand over his. Ichigo wasn't really used to people flirting with him, and usually he's oblivious to things like this, but Nami was being glaringly obvious about it.

He supposed he could play along, but that would be too mean, because…

"Sorry but I don't swing that way…"

Apparently everyone else seemed to be listening in on their little exchange, even through their own conversations, because most of them were looking at him in surprise now.

Except Luffy.

He just looked confused.

"But… you're not on a swing." He said, completely clueless.

Zoro and the others smacked their foreheads in exasperation. They should've known he would say something like that.

Usopp sighed and got Luffy's attention so he could try to explain.

"No, no Luffy. He means that he likes guys."

Luffy still looked confused.

"I like guys too. You guys are my friends, so I like you. What's wrong with that?"

Everyone sighed and shook their heads.

Luffy was so dense.

"He's _gay_!"

"He doesn't _look_ happy, though."

Usopp threw his hands up in frustration, and Zoro was about to try and explain, but Ichigo was getting frustrated, so he did the only thing he could think of that would be a sure-fire way to get Luffy to realize what they were talking about. He reached over and grabbed the captain by his red shirt, dragged him forward until they were face to face, and then, without warning, he smashed their lips together.

Everyone was shocked at first, including Luffy. But then Nami and Sanji started going a little green in the face. Usopp, Chopper, and Brook went red in embarrassment. And Zoro and Robin remained calm while Franky started crying (no one knows why).

Ichigo was about to pull away, but he froze when he felt Luffy's hand grip his arm. He saw the captain's brow furrow and eyes narrow, but he didn't pull away for some odd reason. Ichigo smirked and decided to test the waters a little.

He slightly opened his mouth and let his teeth graze Luffy's bottom lip. When the pirate still didn't back away, Ichigo lightly bit down, eliciting a strange sound from the captain.

It was obvious that Luffy didn't have a lot of experience in kissing, and that's what finally made Ichigo pull away. There was a good chance that he'd just taken the guy's first kiss, but, judging by the look on his face, Luffy didn't seem to mind.

Everyone watched with bated breath as Luffy slowly came back to reality.

The raven-haired teen blinked and looked around at everyone curiously.

"Why're you guys staring?"

Usopp twitched and slowly said, "You do realize that a guy just kissed you… right?"

**... ...**

**TBC**

**... ...**


	2. Chapter 2

_It's been so longggg! I KNOW! SORRY!_

**Warning: Nothing too bad—just some grinding up on that pole~ …. No? bad joke?... okay, I'll leave. Lmao I'm just kidding. There's nothing too crazy right now—just more kissy faces.**

_Main pairings to be expected: Grimmichi, LuffyXIchigo, Zolu_

_Other side pairings_

I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT!-That this is all happening before one piece's time skip. So—no giant (stupid looking) franky, no one-eyed zoro, no epic luffy (unfortunately), and Ace is still alive (yesh!)

Also, this is Un-beta'd… If anyone wants to be my Beta—feel free to message me

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Chapter 2

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Luffy tilted his head and closed his eyes in thought as he leaned back on his hands. "So that's what a kiss is." Was all he said, making the whole crew face-palm and Ichigo's face went a little red with guilt.

"Aw damn… I didn't know it was your first kiss…" Ichigo whispered, getting looks from some of the crew. "Sorry about that, Luffy."

Luffy looked sideways at the guy and shrugged, completely relaxed and uncaring about what just happened. Nami huffed and then sidled closer to Luffy so that she could look him in the eyes.

"Luffy… You shouldn't be so calm about this." She explained.

Luffy blinked at her and then a huge smile spread across his face.

Before she could ask what he was smiling at, her whole body froze when Luffy's lips collided with hers. Her face went a deep shade of scarlet and she couldn't move, so Sanji did the honors of ripping Nami away from Luffy—who looked a little confused about something.

"What do you think you're doing to poor Nami, you idiot!?" Sanji shouted as he placed the still red-faced Nami behind himself as if to defend her from something horrible.

"Oi, oi, take it easy, shit-cook." Zoro said, getting up and placing himself between Sanji and Luffy so that the blonde was no longer towering over their captain, who was still just sitting there with a confused look on his face. "He doesn't know any better…"

Luffy wasn't paying much attention to his friends as they began to yell at each other. He looked over at Ichigo as the teen rubbed his temples and mumbled under his breath.

"Oh god… What have I done?"

Luffy tilted his head and watched as Robin slowly pulled Nami away and towards their room while Zoro and Sanji were practically at each other's throats. Franky and Usopp spoke quietly to each other while Chopper hid behind Brook. The bone-man tried to relax the poor reindeer but to no avail.

Luffy couldn't understand why such a small thing could make such a huge ruckus.

Was a kiss really that bad?

He turned back to Ichigo and scooted closer so that he could whisper something.

"Uhm… Ichigo?" He said, getting the other's attention.

"Yeah?" said shinigami replied hesitantly, thinking that he might cause even more damage if he spoke to the captain.

"Why are kisses so confusing?"

Ichigo felt his brows furrow when his own confusion set in.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… First, it felt okay when Ichigo did it, but then it didn't feel as great with Nami, and now it's making everyone yell and get crazy." Luffy explained, getting annoyed by his inability to figure this out on his own.

"Well, uhm, you see—" Ichigo was suddenly interrupted when a hand grabbed him by the arm and jerked him to his feet.

"I say we throw him out! He's obviously a bad influence on our already warped captain's mind!" Sanji huffed while glaring accusingly at the orange-haired teen, eye flaring as bright as the lit cigarette between his lips.

Zoro sighed and put a hand on one of his swords, not yet pulling it out, but preparing himself to attack because he knew his captain wouldn't let the poor guy get thrown off the ship. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Luffy jumped to his feet and started yelling like Zoro expected.

"But Sanji! He's our friend! You don't throw out friends!"

Franky decided to step in at this point—also not wanting to see a new-found friend being kicked overboard. "Sanji-bro, it was just a suuuuuuper misunderstanding. I'm sure it won't happen again."

Luffy nodded vigorously at that.

"I promise Sanji! I won't kiss anyone ever again! Zoro, cut my lips off!" Luffy puffed out his lips really far and closed his eyes, bracing himself. Zoro shook his head and huffed out an annoyed breath.

Sanji sighed and released Ichigo, letting the poor guy relax. "Stupid… I wouldn't want you to never experience kissing, but you shouldn't just be kissing people randomly like that!"

"Okay, okay! I'll let someone know before I do it!"

"That's not what I m—I mean you should only kiss when you love—ya know what? I should not be the one having this conversation with you… You should've been taught the 'birds and the bees' already!" And with that Sanji stomped away, slamming the door behind him as he went inside.

Zoro relaxed, releasing his grip on the sword, and then he looked to the remaining people on deck. Brook and Chopper were still cowering on the sidelines, Franky was leaning against the mast, scratching the back of his head and sighing, Luffy had his arms crossed with this thoughtful look—which is never a good sign, and Ichigo was slowly making his way to farthest part of the deck to get away from the drama.

The swordsman watched the teen stop at the back of the ship, gazing at the night sky as it reflected over the ocean's gentle waves. Zoro was snapped out of his observations when Luffy suddenly appeared in front of him, looking up with a determined expression. Zoro instantly took a step back and covered his mouth, thinking that Luffy was about to try and kiss him too, but all the captain did was ask a question.

"Zoro. What did Sanji mean by 'the birds and the bees'?"

Said man felt his face heat up in embarrassment and he had to look away from his clueless captain before he could even think about trying to explain anything. Once his heart stopped racing, he shoved his hands in his pocket and began explaining as best as he could.

"Uhm well—you see Luffy, when two people love each other very much… they uhm—they do adult stuff with each other… and that—well it includes kissing, among other things..."

Luffy looked down at his feet as his face scrunched up in confusion.

"But I love all of you—so why is it a big deal to kiss you guys? And what are those other adult things you do? And why does it have to be adults?"

He just couldn't understand…

Zoro nervously tugged at the collar of his shirt while still not looking at Luffy's innocent face.

"But you see, Luffy—there's love for your nakama and friends, but then there's love for the one person you want to be with for the rest of your life…" At this point Zoro slowly let his eyes meet with Luffy's.

Said raven-haired pirate tilted his head and remained silent, trying to understand what the other meant.

"Why only one person? I want to be with all of my Nakama for the rest of my life!" He cheered, determined that love was the same for everyone.

Zoro shook his head and smirked at Luffy's pure mindedness.

Franky, Brook and Chopper exchanged glances and then slowly snuck off, down under the ship so that their captain and first-mate could have some privacy, Franky sniffling softly all the while.

"Think of it like soul-mates. There's one person that completes you—mind, body, and soul. Whenever you're around that person you feel like a whole person—like nothing else can ever get you down as long as you're next to them. You feel like you can never get close enough to that other person, and you do everything you can to make them happy." Zoro said all of this without breaking eye contact with Luffy, hoping that the teen understood everything that was being said.

"Oh…" Luffy whispered, but he still looked confused.

"Kisses are meant for that one person. Kisses aren't to be given to just anyone. And when you meet that special someone then I'm sure you'll both discover what comes next together." And with that said, Zoro had to walk away before his face decided to melt away from all the blood that was boiling beneath his cheeks. He couldn't believe that he just told his little captain all of that!

Luffy hummed to himself as he watched Zoro walk away and then he slowly turned to look back at Ichigo.

"So then does Ichigo think I'm his soul-mate?" He whispered to himself, but he decided to think about it another time, because he was getting tired of thinking. His brain felt like it was about to fall out of his head. He shrugged and made his way down to the guys' bedroom, leaving Ichigo alone on deck.

Ichigo sighed and rubbed at his temples, trying and failing to thwart the oncoming headache.

"This is all too weird…"

He wanted to go home—where things were normal!

Well… maybe things weren't normal where he was from, but they at least made sense! These devil fruits and pirates and marines and world governments and a grand treasure called one piece—it's all so jumbled and confusing.

Too much information too fast.

Ichigo tapped his fingers along the rail and hummed to himself.

He wanted to see if they were anywhere close to land, so he bent down and leaped into the air. He smiled, thankful that he was still able to shunpo on the air. Even though this was a different world, there was still spiritual energy—even more so here than in his human world—although not as dense as in the Seireitei.

He hovered high above the ship, just below the clouds, and he began to gradually turn in place, looking for any sign of land. The night made it hard to spot anything and when he couldn't see any sign of land, he sighed and gave up his search. However, just before he decided to fall back down, he noticed another ship in the distance. He couldn't see anything detailed because of the moonlight, but he knew the ship was much bigger than Luffy's.

He tilted his head, wondering if he should tell Luffy about it, but then shrugged it off. He wasn't part of the crew, so it wasn't his job to inform the captain, and the ship was so far in the distance, he doubted it would be a problem.

He quickly fell back down to the ship, his bare feet touching the grass and helping him relax. Ichigo yawned, making him realize how tired he was.

He didn't want to go inside, still feeling a little uneasy about being around the crew after all the drama, so he found a comfortable spot under the tree right beside the swing. He curled up on the soft grass and fell asleep with the cool air caressing his skin.

~~*—Seven Hours Later—*~~

Zoro's eyes snapped open at the familiar sound of canons.

"It's too early for this shit…" He grumbled before crawling out of his bed.

He then kicked everyone else's hammocks, dragging them from their sleep-induced commas—some needing a little extra shove then others to wake up.

Sanji growled when a fist collided with his cheek, but, just before he could yell at Zoro, another canon went off.

Judging from the splash and sudden rocking of the ship—that canon was way too close for comfort.

Everyone quickly made their way to the deck.

When he walked out into the sunlight, Zoro first noticed that Ichigo was nowhere in sight and then he saw two figures standing near the back of the ship.

Nami and Robin were standing there, just watching as the giant Navy ship behind them fired canon after canon. Instead of running to take cover, the two women stood their ground.

Sanji was instantly by their side, ready to protect them, and Luffy and Zoro jumped up onto the rail on either side of them, preparing to deflect any Canons that got too close, but what they saw made them pause and stare—stupefied. Brook, Chopper, Usopp and Franky slowly made their way up as well so that they could see what was going on.

Ichigo—the strange shinigami person they all met yesterday, who had surprised them with his strange power and caused all kinds of drama with a simple kiss, was quite literally _floating_ between the two ships. He was swinging his huge sword to deflect each canon-ball, changing their direction so that they missed the ship. He was using shunpo to jump to each canon and whenever they were out of his reach, he would swing his sword and yell something, making a large blue flash spill from the edge of his sword and hit its target.

Eventually the Marines stopped firing, finding the canons to be useless and then the men started assembling into their fighting positions.

Ichigo noticed this and quickly shunpo'd back to Luffy's ship. He was surprised to see everyone was already there.

"Oh. Hey guys." He said awkwardly, not knowing if he was still on good terms with them, but when they all smiled at him, he couldn't help but smile back—although it was a small smile.

"Shishishi~!" Luffy chuckled and then turned his attention back to the ship when yelling could be heard.

The main doors to the large ship slammed open, and what everyone could only assume as the ship's captain walked out. He was wearing the white coat that signaled his authority and his stance showed confidence and power. He spoke with a low growl as he ran his hands through light blue locks of hair and what looked like an animal's jawbone was attached to the man's right cheek. Another very noticeable feature was the gaping hole in his abdomen.

Luffy quietly wondered how the man was able to eat.

"What the fuck is all that noise!?"

The men around gave him a questioning stare, but said nothing as their commander walked towards the front of the ship.

"Fuck…"

Luffy and the others looked towards Ichigo as he said that and then returned their attention to the other ship when they heard laughing.

"Hahahaha! Well, well, well! Looks like ya got stuck here too, Kurosaki!"

Said shinigami's lip formed a snarl and then he crossed his arms over his chest, glaring daggers at the arrancar.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself... Did you put Urahara up to this?!"

The man scoffed and shrugged at the accusation.

"Figures that weirdo is behind this mess. But, nah! I 'ad nuttin ta do with this!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and the others just watched the conversation quietly, wondering what would happen next.

"Funny though, isn't it, Grimmjow?"

"What is?" The arrancar replied while scratching his chin with a bored expression.

"That even though we're in a different world, we both still end up on opposite sides."

With that said Ichigo pulled out his sword again and then held it out at arm's length. Zoro watched curiously as the orangette yelled out 'Bankai' and then he disappeared in a flash of light. When he opened his eyes again, instead of the large, bulky sword from before, Ichigo was holding a dark, slim katana that looked sharp and deadly.

Luffy, Chopper and Usopp got stars in their eyes.

"SO COOL!" Luffy yelled, cheering on their new friend.

Ichigo ignored them though and immediately pulled out his hollow mask before shunpoing towards the other ship.

Grimmjow was expecting this reaction from the predictable shinigami and immediately held out his hand, catching the black blade between his fingers right before it sliced his face in half.

Everyone else stared with wide eyes as the two exchanged blows—the blue-haired man never even reaching for his sword as he continued to push away Ichigo's advances.

This frustrated Ichigo more than anything, because it reminded him too much of their first fight.

"God dammit, Grimmjow! Take this seriously!"

"Psh! You're one ta talk! We've been sparrin' together for months now! I can tell you're being a wuss right now." Grimmjow growled with a sneer on his face. He grabbed the sword once more and then pulled Ichigo close until he could grab hold of the teen's chin. He brought their faces so close together that he could feel the other's breath on his own lips. Grimmjow smirked and brushed his teeth along Ichigo's cheek, nibbling slightly.

Ichigo blushed and reach up with his free hand to punch Grimmjow right in the throat.

The man chocked and loosened his hold slightly, and before he could recover and beat the shit out of Ichigo, the teen was suddenly ripped from his grasp.

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed and he frowned in surprise when he noticed that the little raven-haired guy that was on the other ship had actually stretched out his arm all the way up to grab Ichigo's arm and pull him back.

His new 'crew' had warned him about this Monkey D. Luffy's powers, but Grimmjow was still surprised at the reality of it.

Devil fruits are interesting…

Ichigo blinked in surprise and looked up from his spot on the ground to see Luffy standing in front of him with a serious look on his face.

He was back on the pirate ship.

Zoro raised a brow in surprise at his captain's action. Usually if it was a serious fight between men, Luffy didn't get in the way…

"Che…" Grimmjow huffed as he looked down at the small pirate crew. "Ichigo! Come on back up 'ere and come wit us! Ya do that an' I'll leave your new friends alone! Let's go find a way out of this creepy world together, ya!?" He offered and his crew looked at him strangely.

"But sir, we have to capture the pi—" The brave marine who stood up found himself being thrown overboard by their 'captain'.

"Anyone else got anythin' ta say?" Grimmjow demanded with a glare, and everyone else instantly shrunk back and went quiet. The man who was thrown out thrashed helplessly in the water and desperately tried to grab hold of the ship's slippery side, but he was eventually pushed beneath the current and lost to the sea.

"So ruthless…" Nami whispered, a look of contempt crossing her face as she was reminded of Arlong's own cruelty.

Ichigo got to his feet and stood his ground.

"Nahhh…. I think I'd rather stay here! Maybe you'll finally come to your senses and realize my side's so much better! Just like you did in our world!" A huge smirk graced his lips at the angry look he received.

"You little…" Grimmjow grumbled and then pulled out his sword.

He tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck to help relieve some tension before looking back at his crew. "Let's show these guys how serious we are." He said and then watched as his men ran forward courageously, jumping onto the pirate's ship and going in for the attack.

Grimmjow didn't even get to blink before his whole crew was taken out.

Most of them were either, sliced up by Zoro's blades, blown away by Luffy's fists, or thrown off the ship by Sanji's kicks. Ichigo took out a few, but otherwise him and the others didn't have to do much.

Grimmjow tilted his head and watched as the pirates then turned to stare at him to see what he would do next.

He was silent for a second and then a grin stretched his lips and a chuckle slipped passed his lips. The chuckle got louder and louder until he was full-out cackling at the situation.

"Weaklings! All of them! I shoulda known better… Ah well."

Everyone tensed when he suddenly disappeared with a soft popping sound, only to reappear right behind Ichigo.

Zoro was the first to react—he quickly ran forward and blocked the sword that was just about to bite into Ichigo's back. Zoro pressed back, making Grimmjow's smirk stretch and his eyes glow with excitement. The swordsman quickly turned his head, hoping to slash the other's neck open with the sword in his mouth, but he was surprised to see that he couldn't slice through the man's skin.

"hahaha! You'll need to try harder than tha'!"

Grimmjow pushed forward, making Zoro jump back, almost knocking Ichigo over.

Said Shinigami huffed and then went to attack, but stopped when Luffy sped forward first. The little captain stretched his arm back and was about to punch but then Grimmjow suddenly sonido'd forward and grabbed Luffy by the throat.

Luffy's stretched arm snapped forward to hit Grimmjow's chin, but the man only had to move his head slightly to dodge it. He dropped his sword to the ground and raised the now empty hand until it was right in front of Luffy's face.

Ichigo's eyes widened as a familiar red glow began swirling to life in the open palm.

"Grimmjow! Don't!" Ichigo's distorted voice shouted, but the arrancar didn't seem to hear or care.

Zoro and Sanji ran forward while Franky's arm transformed into a cannon, and Usopp stretched out his sling-shot while Chopper transformed into his man form. Robin and Nami also prepared themselves to attack, but Ichigo was the first one to reach them.

Just as Grimmjow was about to let release the Cero, Ichigo grabbed the man's wrist and pushed it up so that instead of hitting Luffy, it went shooting up into the air.

It looked a lot like a firework as it left a stream of red light and then exploded, sending down a spray of burning energy.

Luffy's eyes wavered and he quickly pried Grimmjow's fingers from his throat when his grip slackened.

Zoro instantly pulled his captain away from the man's reach and everyone else had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two strange beings.

"See…?" Grimmjow grinned. "This is you taking things more seriously… You shouldn't draw your weapon unless you're planning to be serious from the start, Kurosaki."

Ichigo let out a melodic hiss and Grimmjow smirked when he realized that the shinigami was slowly losing himself to the hollow inside.

"Come on, Kurosaki. Show me that dark side!"

Just as he said that, Ichigo's other hand shot up and grabbed him by the throat—like he'd just done to Luffy.

Ichigo hissed again as he pressed forward until he had the other pinned against the door of the ship. Wood and splinters pressed into Grimmjow's back and fingers were squeezing his neck until he could barely breathe, but Grimmjow merely cackled in amusement.

"That's it, Kurosaki! Let it go!"

That seemed to make Ichigo finally snap out of it.

He released the man, letting him drop to the ground and gasp for breath.

"Dammit, Grimmjow! You always bring the worst outta me!" Ichigo snarled before ripping off his mask. He panted from the effort and then, with the last of his energy, he gave Grimmjow a solid punch to his face.

The arrancar winced slightly and then spit out some blood, but then the damned smirk was back on his face.

"Ah~~ I missed you, Shinigami."

Ichigo 'tsk'ed and turned away before Grimmjow could see him blushing.

"You make my blood boil in more ways than one! Hahaha!"

No matter how many times Ichigo heard shit like that, his traitorous face would turn every shade of red—this time being no different.

After that statement, Luffy finally stepped around Zoro and walked up to the two, making Ichigo stop blushing and Grimmjow's smirk flipped into a bored frown.

"Who are you?" He asked, his eyes looking straight into Grimmjow's narrowed ones.

"M'name's Grimmjow Jaegerjaques."

That's all he said.

Usopp bravely stepped forward (on shaky legs) and pointed towards this 'Grimmjow Jaegerjaques'.

"So are you a S-s-shinigami as well!?"

The bluenette folded his arms and closed his eyes with sigh, refusing to answer any more stupid questions, so Ichigo decided to speak for him.

"Not exactly. He was originally a hollow, but he was given Shinigami powers… He's what they call an Arrancar… Pretty much the exact opposite of a Vizard."

Grimmjow sniffed at the Shinigami with an annoyed expression.

"Well aren't you all-knowing… You sound more and more like that Quincy-dick every day…"

Ichigo didn't reply to that. Instead, he took his foot and kicked the man's side. Grimmjow rubbed at the injured area with a huff.

Robin hummed in thought and then pointed out, "Blue-san, if you came here the same time orange-san did, then how did you become captain of a navy ship in one day?"

Grimmjow peeked one eye open to look at her before closing it again.

"I fell onto the ship. Those dickwads tried to arrest me, thinkin' I was some stupid pirate. I beat up their previous captain and then they pretty much let me take over. It was fun while it lasted." He shrugged, no longer caring.

It was silent for a minute while everyone thought about what just happened, then Franky stepped forward.

"So what should we do with him…?"

The crew looked to their captain, who tilted his head and closed his eyes in thought.

After a second of thinking he opened his eyes again and smiled.

"You wanna come with us?"

The whole crew, except for Zoro and Robin, let their jaws drop in disbelief at their captain's query.

"Are you crazy, Luffy!? He just tried to KILL YOU!"

Luffy winced and put his hands over his poor, defenseless ears as Nami screeched in his ear.

"But he didn't, so what's the big deal?"

"He's DANGEROUS!" Usopp shouted while waving his arms around.

Luffy huffed out an annoyed breath and crossed his arms with a determined look on his face.

Zoro sighed and turned towards everyone as they were about to start arguing again.

"If anyone else is about to open their mouths, then let me remind you that the captain you're about to question has brought us all this far and hasn't let us down yet. If you don't trust Luffy's judgment then speak up now!"

He shouted the last part, demanding everyone to be honest.

They all look down in shame, knowing that what Zoro said was true.

They would trust Luffy with their lives.

Robin giggled a little as Franky and Chopper started sniffling from the intensity and held onto each other shouting about how cool Zoro was.

Grimmjow chuckled, getting everyone's attention.

"You guys seem like fun… Sure, I'll join your lil' crew for now."

Ichigo rolled his eyes but kept silent, dreading the days to come with this asshole onboard.

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**TBC**

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Thanks for sticking with me! Hope you enjoyed the chapter

Ughhhhhh I really tried to keep everyone in character, but Luffy is so hard to do, 'cause idk how much he would actually know about certain things.

Bleh, oh well

FYI: Flames will be politely ignored, so don't bother telling me that Ichigo and Luffy aren't gay. This is a fanfiction, my friends. Deal with it. Plus, I gave fair warning at the top, did I not? On another note….

I appreciate everyone's comments and encouraging messages! You guys are what makes writing fun!


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning: Okay this is where things start getting steamy~**

_Main pairings to be expected: Grimmichi, LuffyXIchigo, Zolu_

_Other side pairings_

I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT!-That this is all happening before one piece's time skip. So—no giant (stupid looking) franky, no one-eyed zoro, no epic luffy (unfortunately), and Ace is still alive (yesh!)

Also, this is Un-beta'd… If anyone wants to be my Beta—feel free to message me. I am in dire need of one D:

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Chapter 3

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It was only the afternoon and Ichigo was already feeling exhausted.

The shinigami groaned as he finally got to lie down on the soft grass beneath the tree.

It was the same spot he fell asleep last night, and he was able to sleep quite comfortably—until of course the canons started firing, then Grimmjow appeared out of the blue. (I couldn't help myself….)

Just thinking about that jackass had Ichigo bristling and blushing all at the same time.

He was too busy yelling in his own head to notice the shadow that fell over him until he opened his eyes, only to blink in surprise and frown.

"You thinkin' 'bout lil' old me?"

Grimmjow, the almighty pain in his ass, was smirking down at him.

"Go _awayyy…"_ He groaned, shifting an arm to cover the top part of his face; to both hide his growing blush and to make it so he didn't have to continue looking at that smug face.

When Grimmjow didn't give his usual snarky come-back, Ichigo slowly raised his arm until he could peek up at the arrancar again, but he was surprised to see that Grimmjow was no longer there.

Ichigo sat up and looked around, furrowing his brows in confusion when he spotted Grimmjow on the other side of the ship, talking to Zoro while showing off his sword. The green-haired swordsman was smirking as he brought out his own swords.

It looked like they were about to spar.

What the hell?

Ichigo almost felt himself explode when he noticed the small bubble of jealousy rising in his stomach.

"There's no fucking way..." He huffed under his breath, refusing to believe that he had secretly wanted Grimmjow to stick around and bug him—like he'd been doing all fucking day.

Ichigo was thankfully distracted from his disturbing thoughts when Luffy sat down beside him. He looked to his side, watching as said captain leaned back on his hands and smiled at him. Ichigo couldn't help but smile back and relax in this guy's presence.

"How are you feeling? Grimmjow didn't hurt you too bad, did he?" Ichigo wondered while scrutinizing Luffy's neck, which didn't even have a bruise.

Luffy laughed and then wrapped his arms around his legs so he could rest his head on his knees and look directly at Ichigo.

"Nahhh~ I feel great!" He closed his eyes and gave the biggest grin Ichigo had ever seen.

"Oh… That's good." Ichigo nodded, not knowing what else to say.

Luffy was silent for a second as he stared at the shinigami, curiosity clearly written all over his face.

Ichigo mentally sighed, bracing himself for some awkward questions.

"What is it that adults do besides kiss?"

Ichigo blanched—even though he had mentally prepared himself, he still wasn't quite ready for the weirdness of the question. He was also very hesitant to say anything because of how last night had gone.

"Uhm…. Well…" Ichigo rubbed the back of his head and tried to think of the best way to explain.

Luffy eagerly awaited the answer, hoping that Ichigo would be able to finally satisfy his curiosity over the subject. Zoro had only brought up more questions than he answered with his little speech.

"When two people are attracted to each other, they… well you… uhm…." He was finding it harder and harder to keep his mouth moving as his face turned bright red and his lips started fumbling for the words without him realizing.

Luffy huffed in frustration and then turned his head to bury his face between his knees, thinking that this conversation was going to be exactly like Zoro's… "I'm never gonna get to know, am I?" He grumbled, disappointment weaved into every word.

Ichigo nearly sighed, not wanting to feel guilty about his inability to talk about this kind of subject.

He was more of an action guy, not an explanation guy…

"Luffy."

Said captain grunted to show that he heard him, but refused to move.

"Do you trust me…?"

At this, Luffy finally lifted his head to look Ichigo in the eye. He slowly nodded his head, wondering why he asked that.

Ichigo took a deep breath to renew his determination and then he looked around to see if anyone was watching them. Grimmjow and Zoro were still sparing and everyone else seemed to be inside the ship. He took Luffy's arm and then stood, bringing the other with him.

"Is there somewhere we could go to have some privacy?" Ichigo asked and Luffy had to think for a second before he nodded and made Ichigo release him so that he could grab the other's wrist.

As Ichigo was dragged away by an excited Luffy, they never noticed the two pairs of eyes watching them disappear into the ship.

"What are those two up to now?" Zoro wondered as he dropped his fighting stance, Grimmjow doing the same as he stared off to where the other was also looking, his face void of any emotion.

"I say we wait a little and then crash their party." Grimmjow finally replied, a devious smirk slowly spreading onto his lips. Zoro raised a brow and looked towards Grimmjow curiously, but then he couldn't help it as his own little smirk appeared.

"You're evil."

Grimmjow cackled at that and then sheathed his sword, his battle-lust sated but now a new form of lust was beginning to boil his blood.

;,',_.=~~~~~~~~=._,',;

Luffy slowly peeked up through the opening to see that no one was in the library. Letting out a slow breath he didn't realize he was holding, he quickly climbed up the rest of the ladder and then ran to the next one which led up to the bathing area. Ichigo followed close behind, trying hard to keep a straight face because he didn't want to admit to himself that he was maybe getting a little excited.

Luffy grinned as he reached the top and then went to open the door, but both men froze when they heard shuffling on the other side.

Then the door swung open.

Luffy's eyes widened and his grin fell when steam flooded out of the room, only to reveal Nami, dressed only in a towel, with another in her hand as she rubbed it against her damp hair. She took a step forward and then nearly gasped when she finally noticed Luffy standing in front of her.

"Oh…. Hey Luffy." She said awkwardly. "Uhm…. The bath's yours if you want…" She said as a blush dusted her cheeks. She had trouble looking Luffy in the eye.

Luffy blinked when she didn't point out Ichigo.

He looked back, only to find that the other was nowhere to be seen. Luffy frowned as the familiar feeling of disappointment set in.

"Ah… yeah. Thanks, Nami." He mumbled as he stepped aside, letting her pass. She gave him a curious look before quickly making her way down the ladder. The steam was dying down, but it was still very hot and sticky in the room. Luffy closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as he walked into the bathing room. His mind was still reeling with so much disappointment and frustration that it made him want to punch something—_hard_.

Just as he was about to turn around and storm out, the door suddenly clicked shut, making him freeze. He tilted his head and noticed the hand pressing against the door. He let his gaze wonder up the wrist to the arm and up until it reached Ichigo's smiling face, making Luffy's grin return full-force.

"Well that was close." He said, making Luffy laugh.

Ichigo blinked in surprise when lips suddenly pressed into his but then he relaxed, letting Luffy do what he wanted.

Said captain narrowed his eyes in concentration and tried to think of what to do next as he pressed his mouth against Ichigo's. He thought back to the first kiss they shared and then decided to copy what Ichigo had done. He slowly opened his mouth then let his teeth grab hold of the other's bottom lip. The pleased sound that came from Ichigo filled Luffy with courage and satisfaction. He sucked the lip into his mouth but then released it when the other hissed.

He assumed it was from pain.

"S-sorry." He mumbled, but a chuckle was his only reply.

Luffy was about to start talking again, but Ichigo stopped him by grabbing the back of his head and pulling him forward to press their faces together once more. Luffy's eyes widened when a tongue suddenly dove into his mouth. It felt really strange at first, but he slowly relaxed and got used to the feeling.

Ichigo tilted his head so that their mouths meshed together better and flicked his tongue against Luffy's, coaxing it into a strange new dance. Luffy surprisingly seemed to get the message and soon their tongues were twirling and sliding against each other. When Luffy finally felt brave enough, he took his hands, which had been holding onto Ichigo's upper arms, and slid them to the other's sides. When Ichigo didn't say anything against it, Luffy decided to let his hands roam, relying solely on instinct at this point.

Ichigo's breath hitched when calloused fingers slid up his sides, going under Franky's shirt and across his bare chest. He moaned when nails lightly drug along his back, leaving behind light-pink trails. The moan made something heat up inside of Luffy and that feeling caused him to back off, separating their lips. Ichigo unconsciously moved his head forward to try and keep their lips interlocked.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked when he finally looked at the other's panting form.

"I… I don't know what's going on." Luffy mumbled as he glanced down at his shorts, which were currently bulging.

But how could that be?

The only thing down there was his penis, and it's never done anything like this before.

It was pulsing and stiff, and it felt warm.

No.

It felt _hot._ Very, very hot.

Ichigo's eyes widened when realization hit him.

"Wait… So you've never even had an erection before?" This alone made the shinigami rethink everything he was about to do with this young pirate.

This innocent, naïve, untouched pirate.

Luffy glanced back up at him, confusion clear in his eyes, and shook his head—confirming Ichigo's fear.

"I don't think we should continue this… I didn't realize just how innocent you were."

Luffy tensed and then grabbed Ichigo's arms before he could turn away. He dropped his head and let his face press against the orangette's shoulder as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"No! Ichigo… I really want to know everything, and you're the only one who can show me..." He said, determined to see this through to the end. Ichigo let out a deep sigh and contemplated his next move. He finally decided to give in when Luffy started pressing closer to him. It didn't seem like he was going to get out of this situation so easily anyway.

He made Luffy relax by gently pressing his lips against the teen's neck. He kissed his way up until he found the spot behind Luffy's ear. Said pirate gripped Ichigo's shoulders in surprise when the skin behind his ear was sucked on, sending pleasurable bolts of lightning bouncing around his body and leaving behind trails of goose-bumps. Pleasure pulsed through his whole body, from head to toe, until it stopped at his middle, making his erection ache and throb.

"It hurts…" Luffy hissed under his breath while panting. He reached down and put a hand over his groin and his face turned a deep shade of red when he realized how sensitive it was. Ichigo immediately pulled back with an apology but then he looked down and chuckled when he saw what Luffy was talking about.

Luffy's blush grew darker when he heard the laugh and he was about to take a step back, but stopped when Ichigo suddenly fell to his knees.

He watched curiously as his hand was slowly removed from his 'erection' and then he started fidgeting nervously when his pants were being unbuttoned. He looked up at the ceiling in order to escape his embarrassment when both his pants and his boxers were suddenly pulled down to his ankles.

Luffy wasn't one to hide away his body from the world, and this time would be no different—he even went ahead and kicked the shorts away to the corner of the room while also removing his vest so that he was now fully naked, but that didn't stop the blood that rushed to his cheeks and to his penis at the same time when a new wave of embarrassment hit him.

He certainly felt light-headed now.

Luffy shivered and a new layer of goose-bumps awakened across his skin when Ichigo's fingers slid up from his ankles to the back of his knees and then up his thighs.

Ichigo let a smile play at his lips when he let his hands rest just below Luffy's bottom. The tips of his fingers slowly circled the soft skin of his inner thighs and Ichigo's smile morphed into a small smirk when the erection before him bobbed and twitched in excitement.

Luffy wasn't sure what to do with his hands so he let them cling to the closest thing, Ichigo's hair. He didn't hear any complaints, so he let his fingers dig into the scalp gently, but then he let out a choked gasp and his fingers unconsciously tightened when something suddenly engulfed his erection.

It was warm and wet and felt oh-so-good.

He slowly tilted his head back down, away from the ceiling to see what was happening.

He found Ichigo's reddened lips wrapped around his penis.

Nose buried in his ebony-colored pubic hair.

Dark, intense, brown eyes staring back up at him.

And a slick tongue moving against the underside of his erection.

Honestly, Luffy had conflicting feelings about what he was witnessing. At first he had panicked, thinking that Ichigo was about to bite his dick off and eat it like a piece of meat, but then he found himself relaxing into the warmth it provided, reveling in this new feeling.

Luffy briefly wondered if this was some other form of kissing, but then all thoughts melted away when Ichigo slowly brought his head back, letting his lips slide against the skin, creating just barely enough friction to make him shiver in pleasure.

Luffy couldn't help the loud groan that tumbled from his lips when he felt Ichigo's mouth suck at the very tip of his penis, tongue swirling around the slit in a teasing manner.

"Ah~! That… It feels…. Mngh…" Luffy couldn't think straight. He couldn't even form complete thoughts as Ichigo began bobbing his head back and forth smoothly.

Luffy couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his erection disappearing inside Ichigo's wet mouth, again and again and again. It was mesmerizing. Saliva slicked his erection's sensitive skin, making Ichigo's lips move in a fluid rhythm and then the saliva would collect at the corner of his lips as he reached the base. It would slide down his chin in small rivers and then down his neck to be absorbed in his shirt, but it didn't seem to bother Ichigo as he continued.

The captain was getting tired of just standing there like an idiot, watching everything happen. He wanted to do something. He craved movement, he craved action, he craved control.

He took the hands that were already in Ichigo's hair and tightened his grip to keep the other's head still.

The orangette looked up at Luffy in wonder, curious as to why he was forced to stop. But just before he could pull away, Luffy thrust his hips forward. Ichigo almost choked at the sudden action, but then he loosened up his throat and let it happen again. He was kind of glad that Luffy was getting into it and that he was showing good instincts, but he just wasn't expecting to get his face fucked at first.

Luffy couldn't hold back the sounds that tore their way up his throat as he continued to move his hips—albeit a little off rhythm and erratic, but he didn't seem to care. He was getting so very close to something. To what—he had no idea, but it was getting closer and closer.

He felt his body suddenly stiffen and then something burst inside him. He felt a liquid leek from his erection and quickly let go of Ichigo and jumped back—accidentally spraying the other in the face. Honestly, he thought he'd accidentally peed in the shinigami's mouth, but when he looked down he was surprised to see spurts of clear-whitish fluid spurting out instead of the yellow that he was used to. He panted heavily from the feeling of release and his legs suddenly collapsed on him, dropping him to the floor. He leaned back, letting his head rest against the wooden floor boards and then he closed his eyes.

A huge smile spread across his whole face and he couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from his lips.

He felt so free!

so _light!_

Luffy felt like he could take on one thousand men without breaking a sweat!

But his limbs were still throbbing with pleasure and a glorious sheet of calmness seemed to envelope him at the same time, keeping him rooted to the ground.

He was so blissfully content.

He tilted his head and looked past himself when he heard coughing and spluttering on the other side of the room.

Ichigo coughed once more and then spit out to the side. With a small grumble he raised his hand and slid it across his mouth, not even bothering to try and wipe the rest of his face clean—he knew he would need a bath now.

"A little warning next time would be great…"

Luffy sat up quickly and smiled.

"Next time? So you can do this more than once!?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"Of course you can…"

"Then let's do it again right now!"

Luffy jumped to his feet and was about to tackle the poor lad, when there was a loud knock at the door. Luffy froze and Ichigo jumped slightly at the sound. They both slowly turned their gaze towards the door, waiting and hoping that whoever it was would just go away.

"Oiii~!" Ichigo cringed at the sound of Grimmjow's voice. "Kurosakiiii! Luffy! We know you guys are in thereee!"

Ichigo and Luffy glanced at each other and Ichigo motioned for Luffy to say something, and then made a cut throat motion as if to say 'don't mention that I'm here'! Luffy blinked in confusion and then shrugged before shouting back, "Yeahhh! We're here, wha-" Luffy was silenced by a hand covering his mouth.

Clearly the captain didn't understand body language.

Ichigo smacked his forehead in exasperation, regretting it when he pulled his hand back only to see it covered in Luffy's cum. He rolled his eyes and quickly wiped his hands on Sanji's pants, accidentally leaving behind a white smear. ugh!

Before Ichigo could try to rub the stuff from his face, another knock on the door startled him.

"Open up, horndogs!"

That time it was Zoro's voice.

Luffy pursed his lips and blushed slightly, not really sure if he wanted his firstmate to see him in such a vulnerable state, but then he shrugged it off when he saw Ichigo's annoyed face.

"Get lost, assholes!" Ichigo grumbled before quickly snatching up Luffy's shorts and throwing them at him. "We'll have to continue this at another time..." Ichigo whispered to him, disappointment clear in his voice as his own erection protested vehemently.

Luffy huffed, but at least he wasn't the only one disappointed. He nodded and then put on his shorts and buttoned them up.

"What was that, Kurosaki!? You little prick! open up!"

Said Shinigami rolled his eyes once more, getting tired of this situation while trying desperately to calm his raging hard-on.

"Let's wait until they go away before leaving... I don't wanna face that bastard right now." He whispered to the other.

Luffy tilted his head, but nodded nonetheless.

It was silent on the other side of the door, which made Ichigo suspicious, but he shook his head and turned to make sure Luffy was at least half-way decent.

That's when it happened.

"Hey Luffy." It was Zoro, making Luffy blink and turn his full attention to the door. "Sanji just finished making your favorite dinner. Grilled, juicy meat!"

The only person who was fully prepared for what happened next was Zoro as the hyperactive captain suddenly threw open the door and made a mad dash for the exit, shining stars sprung from his eye sockets and a glaring light following behind him. Zoro, however, had been lying in wait and he smirked at his chance. He quickly shot out an arm and caught the raven-haired pirate just as he went to pass him. He trapped Luffy against his chest, wrapping both arms around him and pinning the teen's arms to his sides. Luffy wiggled and struggled against the strong hold, kicking and throwing around his head frantically, but Zoro held firm.

While those two were busy, Grimmjow took this as his chance to sneak inside the room. What he saw made his eyes widen and the smirk returned to his face full-force.

Ichigo glanced up and their eyes met making the Shinigami panic. Ichigo quickly grabbed the hem of his shirt and he scrubbed it against his face, hoping to get off everything that was left, but it was too late. Grimmjow had already seen it.

Said Arrancar chuckled and moved forward, making Ichigo step backwards until he had him pinned against the wall. He reached up with his right hand and cupped the side of the teen's face. He then let his thumb slowly run across his cheek, collecting the remnants of Luffy's essence that once decorated the poor guy's face. He snickered as Ichigo's cheeks turned scarlet and he surprised the orangette by pushing his thumb into the other's mouth, making Ichigo's tongue wipe it clean.

Ichigo gasped and went to clamp his teeth down on the invading thumb, but Grimmjow had expected it and retreated. Ichigo almost hissed like a trapped animal when the other's face moved closer and closer towards his own. Lips touched the very corner of his and he could feel teeth grazing against his cheek along with the scraping of bone from Grimmjow's hollow mask.

"Oi oi! Blueberry guy! What do you think you're doing!?"

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes at the nickname and then glared back at the person who dared call him that.

Luffy didn't flinch at the glare, nor did he cower away at the growl he got. He merely countered it with his own hard stare and frown. Zoro raised a brow at the action and only watched as the scene unfolded. He finally released his captain when he looked like he wasn't about to run downstairs for food. He was very surprised that anything could snap Luffy out of his "yay meat!" stage.

"Back off, kid. You've 'ad your fun with Kurosaki. S'my turn now." Grimmjow grumbled before resuming his nibbling on Ichigo. The orangette couldn't help the gasp that slipped past his lips when teeth bit into his neck and then he blushed hard when a large hand suddenly gripped him through his pants. The contact gave him a little bit of satisfaction because his erection had yet to go away from his 'special time' with Luffy, and he couldn't help but admit that he kinda liked the rough treatment.

The satisfying contact was short-lived as a fist came popping out of no where and slammed against Grimmjow's unprotected cheek. The arrancar was sent flying toward the small window and all they heard was glass shattering followed by a soft splash as they guessed Grimmjow went sailing soaring into the ocean.

Luffy's arm snapped back into place and he grinned in victory.

But if Ichigo knew Grimmjow... then this whole thing was far from over.

Luffy had pretty much declared war on a man that took anything and everything way too seriously.

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TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning: You'll just have to read to find out now won't you~**

_Main pairings to be expected: Grimmichi, LuffyXIchigo, Zolu, who knows I might even throw in a little ZoGrimm/GrimmZo. YOU NEVER KNOW!_

_Other side pairings are to be expected of course_

I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT!-That this is all happening before one piece's time skip. So—no giant (stupid looking) franky, no one-eyed zoro, no epic luffy (unfortunately), and Ace is still alive (yesh!)

Also, this is Un-beta'd… Still looking for someone to fill that position :'D

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Chapter 4

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Ichigo pushed down the sigh that wanted to escape his flaring nostrils when he noticed Grimmjow still glaring at them from across the table.

It was currently dinner time and most of the straw-hats were having the time of their lives—albeit a little less animated than usual because of the thick fog of drama that hovered over the group of four: Ichigo, Grimmjow, Luffy, and Zoro.

Currently, Luffy was sitting as close as he possibly could to Ichigo while still remaining in his own seat, Zoro had positioned himself on the other side of Luffy—ready to step up in case the captain decided to do something else stupid, and Grimmjow, the poor bluenette, was sitting across from the three, glaring daggers (with his one good eye being the only thing intimidating about said glare).

He was still sore about being punched into the water—both figuratively and literally, judging by the nice shiner that decorated his right eye.

Ichigo rolled his shoulders to try and calm himself while resisting the urge to huff when he remembered how Luffy and Grimmjow had been at each other's throats since then.

Why couldn't he have a normal hour?

Just an hour!

Honestly…

He poked at his food in disinterest—not that Sanji's cooking didn't look absolutely delicious, but today's events had left him with a hard lump in both his stomach and his throat. So he didn't bother yelling at Luffy when he saw the teen's hand invade his peripherals and snatch up pieces of his meat.

Luffy continued stealing the meat from the surrounding plates, but what made it funny was the fact that his eyes never stopped glaring at Grimmjow as he continued to stuff his face.

Franky and Usopp both covered their mouths to suppress the laughter that wanted to arise, while Robin openly chuckled in amusement, seemingly unaffected by the situation.

Brook took another sip of his tea and laughed his loud 'yohoho' laugh before engaging in a conversation with Nami-something about her panties. This affectively forced her gaze to tear away from Luffy so she could yell at him. Sanji heard her and immediately noodle-danced to her rescue.

Luffy closed his eyes for a moment and just as he was finally about to start ignoring Grimmjow, the arrancar threw out his leg so that his foot collided with Luffy's shin from beneath the table.

He snickered in a victorious sort of way when Luffy yelped in surprise and then growled at him.

Both Ichigo and Zoro quickly grabbed the back of the captain's shirt as he was about to jump at Grimmjow.

"What are you, _twelve_?" Ichigo snapped at Grimmjow, whose only defense against the accusation was to stick out his tongue—only further proving Ichigo's point.

"If the brat wants ta fight me then let'm go!" Grimmjow taunted while standing up, seat sliding out and knocking over at the abruptness.

Ichigo pursed his lips and let out a small huff when he noticed that everyone's attention was back on them again.

"You're the one that started it, Grimmjow… Can you please just drop it and calm yourself?"

"Not if tha' lil' shit thinks he can fuck you 'fore I get to!" Was the other's immediate comeback.

At this point, if even one person's attention wasn't solely on the group, then it certainly was now.

Ichigo's face turned scarlet and his whole body heated to a temperature that couldn't be considered healthy.

Usopp and Nami also had the decency to seem embarrassed by the confession while the others were either expertly stoic-faced or just confused by what he meant. Luffy was amongst those last few.

"'Fuck'? What's that supposed to even mean!?" He really, truly didn't know, and he felt especially defensive with the way Grimmjow said that.

Zoro shook his head and sighed, refusing to be the one to answer this time and Ichigo was too busy trying to calm himself down to be the one to do it. Everyone else who could've explained, were wayyyy too uncomfortable to openly reply.

Sanji took this time to hurry Chopper and Nami out of the kitchen, knowing that those two need not be around for this filthy turn in the conversation. Brook took that as his cue to leave as well while the others stayed to see what would happen next.

Grimmjow growled and slammed his hands down on the table before shouting back, "Goddammit! You're so fuckin' dense! Fuck is _Fucking_. Meaning **sex**!" When Luffy still seemed confused he continued—to Ichigo's growing horror/embarrassment, "Meaning you take that lil' pecker you call a dick" Here he pointed towards Luffy's middle so that he knew exactly what he was talking about, "And you shove it up _his_ tight lil' ass!" Here he pointed at Ichigo, who felt like his face was about to melt off. "Then you—"

"Grimmjow!" The shinigami finally shouted, aghast.

He couldn't believe Grimmjow just said all of that!

Well no… He could definitely believe it—but that didn't make it any less derogative.

Luffy blinked and then gently sunk back into the chair as his brain processed what was just said—realization slowly—oh so very slowly—dawning on him.

Just as he was about to say something, Ichigo swiftly stood to his feet, his chair protesting with a loud screech as it hit the back of his knees. Everyone remained silent, not even daring to breathe at the intense glare they saw on the orangette's face. Chocolate-brown eyes were narrowed dangerously and thin lips were pressed together in a deep frown.

Grimmjow was accustomed to being on the receiving end of Ichigo's annoyed stares and angry glares—but this time he actually blinked and took a step back when those blazing eyes locked with his. He braced himself for the verbal beating he was sure to get, but his frown deepened when the orangette merely turned away from him and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut on his way out.

Luffy looked like he was about to run after the teen but Zoro quickly grabbed a hold of his arm and shook his head.

"Let him be alone for a little bit…" He spoke up in a soft voice when Luffy looked like he was about to tug away from his grip. Said captain looked like he was debating whether or not he should listen, but then decided that maybe his first mate was right.

Zoro was usually pretty good at reading these sorts of situations.

Luffy sent one last glare at Grimmjow before huffing and sitting down. He continued to finish off his food plus the remaining food that was left behind by the people who left.

Franky, Robin, and Usopp, who had silently kept to the sidelines during the whole scene looked at each other and shrugged, not quite sure where to go from there. They slowly continued eating—forcing themselves to keep up a conversation so that they didn't have to sit in the awkward silence.

Zoro shook his head and then stopped as he caught the look of guilt that flashed across Grimmjow's face before it was chased away by annoyance and then the usual scowl was back. The man scoffed to himself and roughly picked up his fallen chair before slamming himself onto it. He then dug into the rest of his meal so that he could try and get his mind off of a certain orange-haired nuisance.

* * *

><p>Ichigo had angrily stomped around the ship until he found himself in the Lounge with the large aquarium. He sat himself backwards on the seats so that he could rest his chin on his arms and stare at the colorful fish as they swam by. It turned out it to be a really relaxing way to calm the chaotic mess that was his thoughts.<p>

Grimmjow always found a way to do that to him, ever since the damn arrancar showed up at his doorstep with that damned smirk on his face even though he was still sliced and bloody from their last fight, plus some other recent fights which didn't look like they ended well.

Ichigo had been surprised, to say the least—he could've sworn Grimmjow was dead, but here he stood: In the Human world, right in front of his house. Ichigo was about to raise his fist and slam it against the asshole's face (seeing as he no longer had his shinigami powers at that point in time), but he couldn't bring himself to do it, especially when Grimmjow had suddenly collapsed to his knees. Instead, Ichigo found himself quickly swooping down to catch the man before his face collided with the floor. At that point he knew he couldn't just leave Grimmjow or dump him in a random place to die of blood-loss, but he certainly wasn't going to let him stay in his house where his two little sisters were sure to see him. So Ichigo had taken him to the next best place: Urahara's.

The old creep was oddly cooperative with letting the Arrancar stay, and Ichigo had a feeling that this whole mess they were in now was the sole reason behind that mysterious gleam in the shopkeeper's eye, but Ichigo couldn't be sure.

You could never be too sure with that man…

The sound of the door opening snapped him from his musings and he looked back. For some odd reason he felt a slight bubble of disappointment when, instead of light-blue hair, his eyes caught sight of blonde strands. The fact that he felt disappointed made Ichigo's anger start boiling once more.

Why the hell did he feel that way?!

It had to be because he was hoping that the moron would come groveling and apologizing for how he acted—not that that has _ever_ happened… or _will_ _ever_ happen.

"Figured I'd find you here…" Sanji mumbled just loud enough for Ichigo to hear, and it made the orangette raise his brow in surprised confusion.

"Yeah well… Ya found me." Ichigo said softly and there wasn't any particular emotion attached to those words except for maybe a slight bit of irritation, but Sanji knew that it wasn't really towards him.

Said cook hesitated before slowly taking a seat beside the other and Ichigo let his gaze drift back to the tank as a rather strange looking crab crept along the sand at the bottom. He waited patiently as the man lit up a cigarette before he began saying what he came to say.

Sanji took a deep drag and then let the smoke seep passed his lips as he spoke. What he said had Ichigo's brows scrunching in confusion and then he turned his back to the man so he could look down at his hands, sadness welling up in his eyes—but not enough to make him cry.

He shouldn't be getting so upset—but with everything that's happened these past two days he couldn't help himself.

"I see…" Ichigo replied only when he was sure that his voice wouldn't waver. He didn't want to reveal just how upset he was. "I understand… I'm sorry I've caused so much trouble. I'll go without a fuss then. Apologize to Nami for me. Never meant to upset anyone…"

Sanji took two more slow drags from his cigarette before nodding in satisfaction.

He then got up to leave.

Just as he was about to close the door behind him, he paused.

"You can keep those pants by the way… I won't be wanting them back" Was all he said, and with that he left Ichigo alone to stare at the fish once more as he contemplated his next move.

* * *

><p>Zoro watched curiously from his spot at the upper-deck as Sanji exited the lounge. The blonde looked a little more tense than usual, but Zoro decided to ignore him when he noticed the man sitting beside him taking another large gulp of alcohol. Usually Zoro never shared his stash, but it'd been a while since he had a good drinking buddy, and he had to admit that he shared a curious kinship with this man—even though he was a bit much to handle at times.<p>

Plus, Grimmjow looked like he could use a good drink after today.

"Look… I di'n mean ta offend yer lil' buddy, 'kay? I jus'…. I'ff been after Kurosaki's ass fer a good… one.. two.. three… _four_ months now—and tha' lil' brat—IN ONE DAY—got'm on hissh knees, suckin' 'is dick!"

Once he finally got the gist of Grimmjow's slurred speech, Zoro raised a brow and smirked.

"I 'aint the one you should telling that to. And Luffy's not my 'lil' buddy'."

Grimmjow shrugged and then gestured with the hand that held his cup, making the liquid slosh and he accidentally spilt a little.

"Well tha glint ya get in yer eyes when ya look't him says otherwise, mah friend!" Grimmjow cackled as he slapped Zoro's back. The swordsman couldn't help the slight blush that dusted his cheeks.

So what if he had a tiny, little, itsy-bitsy crush on his captain?

Zoro decided not to reply to that and, instead, redirected the conversation back to Grimmjow's own predicament.

"So are you going to apologize to Ichigo?"

Grimmjow went silent at that, his face going serious as he nursed what was left of his drink. After a moment of drunken contemplation, the arrancar finally looked up, his lips screwed up in determination. "Yeahh…. guess I should shouldn' I? I dun think've eva 'pologized 'fore… Maybe tha'll show'm 'ow seriss I am?"

Zoro couldn't stop the laugh that blurted passed his lips, but he quickly composed himself when Grimmjow shot him a glare.

"I'd wait 'till you're sober before you do that, bud. I can barely understand you." Another laugh escaped him and this time Grimmjow couldn't help but chuckle as well.

It felt good to cut loose and finally let out his pent-up feelings to someone, even if it was some guy he just met that day.

But, when Grimmjow thought about it, Zoro and him weren't too different.

Besides the obvious similarities; like their well-toned bodies, scarred torsos, and brightly colored hair, they also had a similar bloodlust—getting all excited at the thought of a good fight—and then their talent with swordplay. Although, Grimmjow only resorted to using his sword when it was necessary—preferring the feel of skin and bone being pummeled beneath his knuckles.

And Zoro could _clearly_ handle his alcohol better than the arrancar.

Grimmjow hummed in thought and then let his eyes return to the deep scar that decorated the other's front. Unlike his own scar which resembled more of a scorch mark, Zoro's looked like a nice, clean slice down the middle—starting from his left shoulder and traveling down to his right hip. It looked deep and it had to have been from a sword. Grimmjow's been in enough battles to know it's not some surgical cut.

"Yo. My eyes are up here." Zoro said jokingly as he gestured towards his face. Grimmjow snorted in amusement when he noticed the other's playful smirk.

"J's' wonderin' how ya got tha' scar is all." He stated and then he threw his head back to down the rest of his drink.

"Ah… This…" Zoro said as he let his fingers trace the middle of said scar. He tilted his head and stared up at the starry sky as he thought back to that day.

He could still feel the bite of Mihawk's sword as it pierced through his skin and muscle. He could bet money that his ribs probably had indents where that hard metal scraped against the bone.

Then he remembered the sound of Luffy shouting out his name, worry for his life was clearly etched into that one word, and Zoro couldn't help but smile as he recalled the promise he made that day.

"Let's just say that my rival gave it to me as a souvenir for pursuing my dream… It's also a reminder that I'll never let myself lose again."

Grimmjow raised a brow at the vague explanation, but he got the gist of it and nodded in understanding.

"Whatabout yours?" Zoro continued while gesturing towards the other's chest.

The bluenette laughed and then leaned back so that said scar was clearly visible.

"Mine's s'not quite as deep and meanin'ful s'yours…" He started with a smirk and then his expression went soft as he stared down at the mark, making Zoro smirk knowingly.

"Ichigo gave ya that, didn't he?"

Grimmjow nodded slowly and then sighed and looked away with a slight blush.

His drunken state gave him absolutely no control over his face, and it kinda pissed him off.

"Yeahhhh…. The lil' jerk got me good. An' this chick—I think 'er name was Orotimay—'ad a chance ta heal it… but I didn' wan' her to… I felt like it belonged there… ya know?" He explained with a slight smile, but then his face fell when he realized that Zoro was no longer paying attention to his heartfelt confession. He was about to snap at him, but he paused when he heard a noise come from the direction Zoro was looking.

It sounded suspiciously like a splash.

Both of them remained silent, waiting to hear it again, but when it didn't happen they both shrugged it off as being some large fish.

Just as they thought that, both men jumped to their feet when they heard the sound again, only this time it sounded a lot closer.

_Spshh spsh spplsh shpshh spshh_

Now there were more of them. It sounded like they were surrounded.

Zoro quickly ran to the edge and looked down at the water. What he saw made his eyes widen and then a large grin spread across his face.

Grimmjow slowly followed him and then peered over the edge, raising a brow at what he saw.

Indeed they were fish—but they look gigantic, and they were gliding beside the ship, making a large circular formation. They were about half the size of the ship, but what was most striking about them was the fact that they were literally _glowing_.

They lit up the water around them and each one released a different color, making it seem like the ship was floating atop a giant rainbow.

"I gotta show this to Luffy." Zoro whispered to himself. He then pushed off the railing and went to find said captain.

As he did that Grimmjow smirked to himself and figured he'd go get Ichigo as well. He didn't think the teen would be too excited to see something so girly-like, but it was worth a shot. Grimmjow actually had no idea what the Shinigami enjoyed, besides swinging his sword of course.

Grimmjow quickly made his way around the ship, looking for a familiar head of orange hair, but he was nowhere to be seen. By the time he closed the door to the last room, everyone else had already gathered on deck to stare at the beautiful creatures in the water. The arrancar scrunched his face in confusion and took a look around on deck again, thinking that maybe he missed the shinigami amongst the other brightly colored heads, but he didn't see him. He quickly sonido'd up on top of the large crow's nest, making sure Ichigo wasn't hidden up there or atop the mast, but there was still no sign of him.

He searched every room once more, making sure to check every nook and cranny.

The fish finally swam away after a few more minutes, diving down under the water until their bright glow was finally swallowed up by the ocean's dark depths. By this time Grimmjow finally decided it was time to maybe ask for some assistance.

He quickly ran up and paused in front of the group as they slowly made their way towards the inside of the ship. Smiling faces fell when they saw Grimmjow's panicked look.

"What's wrong, Blue-san?" Robin was the first to speak up.

"I can't find, Kurosaki." He said, getting shocked looks from some of the crew. And he was glad that he was sober enough now that he could talk normally.

Luffy quickly pushed his way to the front of the group, followed closely by Zoro.

"What do you mean? Have you checked inside?"

Grimmjow didn't even bother making a snarky reply—he was genuinely concerned for the Shinigami. They were both stuck in a new and strange world, so who knows what happened him.

"Yes, yes! I checked everywhere!"

Luffy narrowed his eyes in worry and then turned to his crew.

"Everyone, spread out and search the ship. There might be a place Grimmjow missed. Meet back here in 5 minutes!" He ordered and everyone immediately complied.

Robin and Usopp made their way inside towards the bedrooms and the library, Chopper and Nami went towards the reindeer's infirmary, Franky immediately took off towards his workshop below deck, Sanji and Zoro went towards the kitchen, while Brook decided to search the crow's nest, which left Luffy and Grimmjow alone on deck.

Luffy crossed his arms and stared at Grimmjow, who was staring right back with unwavering blue eyes.

"You made Ichigo run away!" Luffy accused with an angry pout crossing his face.

Grimmjow lifted his lips in the beginning of a snarl, but then he calmed himself, knowing that arguing wasn't going to help anything.

"Look, I'm…. I'm s—…. I didn't really mean the things I said, a'right?" That as close to an apologize as the captain was going to get, and Luffy seemed to understand. He slowly shrugged his shoulders.

"It's fine… Let's search the deck for Ichigo, okay?" He said, letting the bad vibe slip away so they could finally work together. Grimmjow nodded, determination clear on his face as walked around the deck.

* * *

><p>Zoro remained silent as he searched the dining area while Sanji rummaged through the kitchen. Watching the blonde closely, Zoro could tell that the man was only half-heartedly searching for Ichigo.<p>

Zoro narrowed his eyes in thought and then realization hit him and he nearly bristled at the thought.

He quickly made his way to the kitchen and Sanji didn't even realize he was standing right behind him until he turned and bumped right into another hard chest, their foreheads almost clonking together. Sanji was about to curse at him, but he quickly shut his mouth when he noticed the death-glare he was receiving. It took him a second to find his voice, but once he did he quickly shoved the other away from him before speaking.

"The hell, marimo!? You ever heard of personal space, moron!?"

Zoro crossed his arms and continued to stare. Sanji seemed to be getting extremely nervous under his scrutiny.

"What's your problem!? Shouldn't we be looking for Ichigo? Lemme look in peace!" He snapped, and Zoro noticed how the other's gaze shifted when he mentioned the shinigami's name.

"What'd you do?"

Sanji nearly snarled at that and he glared up at the swordsman, clearly not enjoying the accusation.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Let's just—"

Zoro quickly grabbed the blonde's collared shirt and lifted him off the ground until his toes barely scraped the floor. Sanji grabbed ahold of the other's arms and tried to pry them off but to no avail.

"Quit fuckin' around, Shit-cook! What the hell did you do to, Ichigo?"

Sanji looked away, a slight look of guilt crossing his face, but then he covered it up with apathy.

"I didn't _do_ anything to him…"

Zoro shook him angrily before snapping, "Fine! Then what the fuck did you _say_ to him!?"

Sanji took his right foot and kicked the other away from him. Zoro unconsciously released Sanji so that he could hold onto his aching abdomen.

That kick was a lot harder than it usually was.

"Mind your own business, fuckin' moss-head." He growled before turning and making his way towards the deck. Zoro stayed behind for a minute, rage still boiling under his skin, but he pushed it away as he also went to join the others.

Just like Grimmjow had said, Ichigo was nowhere to be found.

"Well he couldn't have just disappeared!" Nami shouted, frustration written all over her face.

"But he _did_ kinda appear out of nowhere when we first found him." Franky reasoned with a thoughtful expression.

Sanji lit up another cigarette and shoved the lighter in his pocket before also speaking, "That's a good point. He probably just went home for all we know." He stated matter-of-factly.

Grimmjow couldn't help but notice the way Zoro glared at the blonde when he said that, but he shrugged it off for the time being.

"I don't think that would be the case, since Blue-San is still with us. I suspect that whoever brought them here would also bring them both back at the same time." Robin countered sensibly.

Grimmjow nodded slowly at that.

"Yeah… Hat N' Clogs may be a lil' unpredictable, but I think the reason he sent us both 'ere was 'cause he knew tha' Kurosaki and I would help each other out if we needed to."

Luffy sighed as he tried to think, hurting his poor brain in the process.

Zoro patted his shoulder reassuringly when he noticed the pained look on Luffy's face.

"Is there an Island anywhere nearby that he may have gone to? Remember that he can walk on air…"

Everyone seemed shocked at Zoro's intelligent input, making the poor man bristle, but then he stopped when Nami took a step towards Grimmjow.

"Can you float on the air as well?" She asked and she waited for him to nod in confirmation before continuing, "Go up as high as you can and then look towards the northeast, see if you can find a small island. That's the closest place to us at the moment." Grimmjow didn't hesitate as he sonido'd up into the air, leaving behind a gust of wind that lightly brushed against the crew. Nami turned to everyone else who was staring up to where they thought they could see Grimmjow. "As long as we don't stay on the island for too long, our Logpose should be okay. So let's make this quick." She explained, grabbing their attention.

Luffy nodded, not arguing with her this time and everyone waited patiently for Grimmjow to return.

It only took a few seconds.

He floated back down to the deck and didn't speak until his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

"You were right. There's an island 'bout 20 miles that way." He said, pointing in the direction she had mentioned.

Luffy huffed and crossed his arms.

"ALRIGHT! Let's go then! Ichigo's our friend, and we're gonna get him back!" He announced and everyone cheered, save Sanji (because he was too busy brooding) and Grimmjow ('cause he doesn't do that kinda shit).

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TBC

_Sanji's a lil' dick isn't he?_

_BUAHAHAHA! _

_But yes there're going to be some interesting developments in the next few chapters heheh~_

_SO STAY TUNED!_

_And let me know what you guys think! Also, If you're interested in being a beta let me know_

_As usual—Flames will be ignored and so will demands of "more!"_

_I don't perform well under pressure… lol_


	5. Chapter 5

**Warning: Hmmm, well there's not as much drama in this one. Mostly fighting and there's a surprise guest that appears! Yayyy~ And I wouldn't call it a lap-dance, but yeah, there's that**

_Main pairings to be expected: Grimmichi, LuffyXIchigo, Zolu, _

_Other side pairings are to be expected of course._

Un-Beta'd

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Chapter 5

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"_You're a nuisance to the crew. You've caused nothing but trouble since you got here, and Nami is especially upset with what's been going on. All of us really care about Luffy, and we don't like what you're doing to him… You should leave."_

Ichigo locked his eyes with the ground as he continued to walk, remembering what Sanji had told him last night.

The cook was right about him being the center of the drama, but he really didn't mean to. He especially didn't want to upset Nami and the rest of the crew, and if they all wanted him to leave, then so be it.

Ichigo gazed up and peered through the surrounding trees to watch as the sky grew brighter with each step he took.

His stomach once again let loose a loud growl, making him pause and glare down at it.

He hadn't eaten dinner last night because of his silly appetite, and he had yet to find any sort of civilization.

'_I wonder if there's even a place to eat on this Island…'_

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a warm gust of air wafted passed his nose carrying with it the delicious aroma of seasoned meat.

Ichigo immediately turned in the direction of the smell and followed his nose as it took him through the forest. After walking for a good 10 minutes, he finally came across the source.

In front of him lay a small circular clearing and in the middle of that clearing was a small, stereotypical looking camp: Small tent, thin mattress, pack beside it filled with who-knows-what, and a pit for the bonfire. Above the bonfire, skewered by a thin stick was exactly what Ichigo was looking for. It was a huge slab of meat.

From what animal? Ichigo had no fucking clue.

Not that he really cared, because it smelt delicious either way.

He was about to step over and take a closer look, but froze when he noticed something.

The fire was still burning.

Meaning that the person who started it couldn't have been far.

He could just wait and see if anyone showed up and hope that the person would be nice enough to share…

Once that thought entered his mind it immediately flew out the window because just then he felt his sword get ripped away from his back and then a pair of arms quickly wrapped around him before he could escape.

Ichigo yelped and struggled in the hold, shouting profanities at his capture.

One of the arms moved so that its hand clamped over his mouth, but that only made Ichigo struggle harder. The person (he'll go ahead and assume it's a male) was quite strong. The man's arms trapped him to a hard chest like they were made of steel, and Ichigo couldn't get them to budge.

'_Dammit…'_

Ichigo finally stopped struggling, seeing as it was useless. Once he did he heard the man (yup, it's a guy) chuckle.

"You must be hungry, huh?"

Ichigo huffed and refused to answer that, knowing full well that the bastard was just making fun of him. But then he blinked in surprise when he was finally released. Ichigo wasted no time in stepping forward and spinning around to take a look at the person, but that was nearly impossible with the large hooded cloak he wore.

"Who are you?" Ichigo demanded and he took a step towards his fallen sword, but the man quickly got in his way, putting himself between Ichigo and his sword.

"Ah~ I was gonna ask you the same thing." He replied with a playful hint to his deep voice.

The shinigami debated whether or not to shunpo behind him so that he could grab his sword, but then he smelt the food behind him and thought that if he played his cards right then maybe he could get an easy meal out of this guy.

"Fine." Ichigo conceded and then he stood straight before continuing. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki." The man shifted so that he was also standing to his full height, and when he didn't immediately answer, Ichigo huffed and snapped, "And who are _you_?"

The man had the nerve to chuckle at him again and he reached up to grab his hood, but he didn't remove it just yet.

"Are you a Pirate Hunter?"

Ichigo shook his head, which seemed to satisfy the man, because he began lifting the hood.

Just as his face was revealed Ichigo's eyes widened when the man started leaning back further and further until he had lost his balance. The shinigami reacted quickly—shunpoing behind him and quickly grabbing his shoulders and letting the man's head fall onto his shoulders before he could hit the ground.

"Hey! You okay!?"

'_Did he just __faint__!?'_

Once he placed the man gently on the ground, he was able to get a better look at the man's face.

He fell_ ASLEEP!?_

The man let out a loud snore, confirming Ichigo's suspicions.

What the…?

Sighing at the strange predicament, Ichigo decided to ignore what just happened. Instead, he finally took a good look at the guy.

He had neck-length ebony hair that was slightly wavy around the ends, a sharp jawline, a straight nose, slightly thick brows, and thin lips. However, the most noticeable part of his face were the freckles that dusted his cheeks. Overall he was handsome, Ichigo could admit that—but that didn't make him any less strange…

His stomach decided to remind him of his hunger at that point, forcing him to look back up at the meat, which was beginning to turn dark and crispy. He looked back down at the man in thought before standing.

He couldn't just leave the man like this and he definitely couldn't ignore his stomach any longer.

Making his decision, Ichigo nodded to himself and then carefully lifted the man onto his shoulder. He carried him towards the tent, laying him atop the mattress (that may as well've been a blanket) before running back to collect his sword. Once it was secured to his back by the red band he wore across his torso, Ichigo took a seat on the tree stump by the fire. He took hold of stick on either side of the meat and then brought it towards his face, practically drooling from the hunger that clawed at his insides. He took his first bite and really dug into it. He was right that it was a little crispy on the outside, but it was so juicy on the inside.

He made sure to only eat enough to satisfy his hunger, which left plenty left over for the man who still had yet to wake up. Ichigo noticed the fire was beginning to dim and felt it was okay to place the meat back where he found it without it burning.

He looked over to the tent and stared at the stranger for a little while, contemplating whether he should wait until the man woke up, or just keep on going. He didn't want to leave without at least knowing the guy's name, but that was pointless thinking and he didn't want to be a burden… Ichigo sighed through his nose and then got up and started making his way to the forest, back towards the path he was on before he got distracted. He never noticed the small smirk that crossed the 'sleeping' man's face as he peeked his eyes open and watched Ichigo disappear into the trees.

Ichigo kept walking forward with this relaxed and casual look about him—like he had no worries in the world.

And why should he have any worries?

It wasn't like he was on some unknown island in an unknown world with unknown dangers that he knew nothing about…

'_Speaking of dangers…'_ He thought when he heard rustling in the bushes on either side of him.

It just seemed to be one thing after another for Ichigo.

He watched with a bored expression as about fifteen different people streamed out of the bushes and into view. They didn't seem like much of threat, so Ichigo didn't bother getting all riled up when they began forming a tight circle around him.

"Well, well, well! Whata we got 'ere, boys!?" The largest man (Ichigo assumed he was their leader) called out to the other men as he made some strange _shearharharhar_ laugh. Ichigo snorted in amusement when the other men started smirking at him.

This reminded him of his old days in high school. Some bullies would gang up on him and then wind up getting sent to the hospital… With these guys though—unfortunately—Ichigo didn't think there would be an ambulance coming to their rescue.

"Looks like a lil' lost pet, boss." Some scrawny looking creep snickered at the larger man's side. An odd gleam sparked in his off colored eyes, making Ichigo sneer, but otherwise he stayed put. "Can we keep 'im? Huh, huh?"

The 'boss' laughed again and then crossed his arms as a sense of confidence (cough EGO cough) surrounded him.

"Whadaya say, guys!? Why don't we give our new pet a warm welcome!"

At that the men surrounding Ichigo sprung forward. The shinigami was expecting it and quickly shunpo'd into the air, making the morons collide into each other. Some even knocked each other unconscious.

None of them saw where he went to, except the scrawny fellow who spoke before.

Ichigo huffed and then grabbed his sword. He didn't want to waste any more time with these idiots so he immediately took his stance and yelled, "Bankai!"

Everyone below gasped and looked up to where he was floating and watched in awe as his sword transformed.

'_This should be enough…. I don't want to use the Mask and lose control again...'_

With that Ichigo quickly dispatched the lesser men below.

Blood drenched the dusty ground and some even splashed on the trees surrounding them, but none of the wounds were fatal. Ichigo only cut them up until they either ran for their lives or went unconscious.

Then there were only two left. The 'boss' and the little guy.

The bigger one looked like he was scared shitless and quickly moved to stand behind the other.

Ichigo thought it was funny to see such a big man cowering behind a skinny little guy.

'_He couldn't possibly think that I won't get to him…_' Ichigo tilted his head in thought. '_Unless…_' He didn't have any more time to think about it as he saw the smaller male flash forward on quick feet.

He was fast, Ichigo could give him that, but the shinigami was faster as he dodged each punch thrown his way. Ichigo side-stepped the next attack and when the man stumbled a little, he took that as his chance to counter. Ichigo quickly pierced his blade into the other's side and he figured the fight was over, but his eyes widened when the guy didn't even flinch. Instead, he took this as his chance to grab a hold of Ichigo's throat. The shinigami was shocked and had been taken by surprise. He struggled to pry the fingers from his throat but he paused to watch as the man reached down with his other hand to pull the blade out from his side. Ichigo watched in surprise as the wound immediately closed. Not a single mark was left behind and there was no sign of blood, not even on Ichigo's sword.

"What _are_ you!?" Ichigo chocked out and he went to kick the man in the chest, but he gasped when his foot just sunk right into the man's body. He went to pull his foot back, but the man had somehow hardened his body, making it impossible for Ichigo to move his leg.

"I ate the gel-gel fruit. So now I'm made o' Gel." The man explained while letting out a high-pitched giggle.

"Fuck. I forgot about the stupid devil fruit things." Ichigo grumbled and then he let out a pained gasp when he was suddenly thrown to the ground. He leg was free now and he could breathe properly, but that was short lived when the man quickly hopped onto him and then spread what Ichigo could only assume was the _Gel_ that the man mentioned across his neck and wrists. The substance hardened and the poor Orangette found himself pinned to the ground, unable to break free.

"Fucking hell." He cursed while kicking his legs around.

"Good work, Shian." The boss-guy finally decided it was safe enough to show his face, making Ichigo roll his eyes and snort. What a coward. "Now how are we going to punish our pet for being so rough with his masters…?" The man grinned wickedly and Ichigo felt a shiver crawl up his spine as the full extent of the situation finally sunk in.

The scrawny guy, Shian, giggled and then bent to pick up Ichigo's sword. He placed the tip of the blade against Ichigo's hip and slowly brought it up the teen's bare chest, leaving behind a shallow cut. It wasn't deep enough to bleed, but it was enough to sting.

"How many o' our men did he cut?" Shian asked offhandedly as he brought the edge of the blade to rest on Ichigo's throat.

"14." The boss answered as he took a step forward so that he could kick the teen in the side, making him grunt in slight pain.

"Then 14 scars should do the trick." Shian grinned and lifted the sword so that he could slash at the Shinigami's chest, but just then a large pillar of fire shot out from the forest, slamming into the man and making him drop the sword as he went soaring into the dirt.

Shian screeched in pain as he was engulfed in flame. He tried rolling around on the ground, but he couldn't extinguish it.

"Huh… Guess gel is flammable…"

Ichigo's wide eyes turned to where the fire had come from to see a figure standing there.

It was the freckled guy from before.

Ichigo couldn't help but let his gaze wander since the man was no longer wearing his cloak. Now the only thing he wore was a pair of black cargo shorts, a brace for his left elbow, hiking boots and an orange cowboy hat sat atop his head. Other than that, the rest of his body was bare, save for the tattoos that littered his tanned skin.

The boss-guy froze up and didn't even seem to notice his partner's screams as he stared at the newcomer.

"P-p-portgus D. Ace!" He stuttered and slowly started backing away as said man took a few steps forward.

"Hmmm? Yeah, that's me." The freckled man grinned and tipped his hat casually, as if he didn't just set someone on fucking _fire_. Ichigo felt the gel around his neck and wrists melt away and he was finally able to stand. He looked over his shoulder to see that Shian had finally been able to quench the fire, but he looked burnt and crusty. From the slow rise and fall of his chest and the occasional twitch of his fingers, Ichigo could tell he was still alive at least.

He looked back towards the two remaining men and watched as this guy—Ace was it?—lifted his right pointer finger towards the boss-guy. Said man started cowering and his shaking legs were barely able to keep him upright as he continued to back away.

"P-please don't k-kill me!" He cried, large tears streaming down his face.

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that, deciding to ignore the man in favor of fetching his sword and dusting off his clothes.

"You're pathetic." Ace sighed and then he lowered his hand. "Go on. Get lost." He shoved his hands in his pocket and watched as the weakling scrambled to find his footing and then he was bolting away into the safety of the forest. Once he was sure the man was gone, Ace sighed and then looked around at all the unconscious bodies before gazing up at the orange-haired man standing before him: His arms were crossed over his chest (which was barely covered by the blue Hawaiian shirt), his sword was back to its normal size and attached to his back. There was a bored expression planted on his face as he stared right back at Ace.

Deep Chocolate brown eyes locked with Ebony.

"You're pretty tough." Ace finally said, letting a huge smile consume his face. Ichigo pushed down the blush that wanted to appear and instead turned his face away to hide his embarrassment.

"It was no big deal… Just a buncha idiots…" Ichigo mumbled just loud enough for the other to hear. "You were the one that took out that devil-fruit guy." The shinigami mentally cursed himself for being so weak.

Ace shrugged and hopped over until he was standing right in front of the teen, and Ichigo was finally able to notice the height difference. Ace was about maybe a few inches taller than him.

"Nahhhhh~ I was watching you fight. You were holding your own really well until the guy revealed his ability. Probably caught you by surprise, right?"

Ichigo huffed but kept his mouth shut, refusing to admit his mistake.

Ace laughed at the reaction and then raised his hand to ruffle the teen's orange hair, making Ichigo blink in surprise. No one has ruffled his hair like that since he was a kid.

"You're cute!" The man exclaimed and he laughed again when he saw Ichigo's face go red.

"D-don't say things like that!" Ichigo stuttered and then took a few steps back, away from this strange person. Ace shrugged and then grinned at him again. Ichigo frowned and waited until his face was back at a normal temperature before he continued down the path. He was tired of being around the bodies lying on the ground.

The sooner he distanced himself from this place, the better.

To his slight annoyance he noticed that the fire-guy had decided to tag along, but he couldn't help but feel a little safer in this man's presence. Not that he wanted to be protected or anything… It was just nice having a companion that knew about the world he was currently in.

They walked side-by-side for a few minutes before curiosity got the better of Ace.

"So what's your fruit ability?" He asked, getting Ichigo's attention.

"I don't have one." Was the teen's only reply.

Ace pursed his lips and closed his eyes in thought. "Buuuttt…. You were floating… And your sword changed." He pointed out while gesturing towards the Zanpakuto.

Ichigo sighed through his nose and crossed his arms as he thought about whether it was a good idea to share anymore information with this guy.

He figured it was okay, since the man posed no immediate threat, and he _did_ save him...

"I'm a shinigami." Ichigo stated, watching from the corner of his eye as Ace paused mid-step and blinked in surprise. Then the grin returned full force and he jogged to catch back up with Ichigo.

"That's so cool!" He said while walking even closer to the teen, invading the poor lad's personal space.

This reminded him way too much of another dark-haired hyperactive male…

"I've never met a shinigami before! So are you like the 'grim reaper'? Do you take people's souls and drag them to hell?"

Ichigo shook his head and resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he humored the man anyway.

"I'm not surprised you haven't met one before, because, apparently, I'm from a whole 'nother dimension. And no—I don't drag people's souls to hell. I'm actually only part Shinigami. All I do is protect Humans from corrupted spirits we call 'Hollows'." Ichigo enlightened and he was glad that Ace seemed to be following along, as if his explanation seemed perfectly normal.

"Well that's still cool." He hummed, the grin shrinking into a soft smile, which made Ichigo feel like blushing again for some reason. "Did anyone else come with you to this 'dimension'? And what brought you here anyway?"

Apparently it was going to be a while before Ace's curiosity was sated.

"Yeah. An _acquaintance_ of mine got stuck here with me. And by 'stuck' I mean that we got thrown in here and we have no idea how to get out…" He said, not exactly understanding why he kept answering the other.

"Did you and your friend get separated or something?"

This time Ichigo decided to try and steer the conversation away from him.

"So are you pirate?"

Ace noticed the sudden change, but decided not to press the matter.

He smirked and then leaned back to show off a casual air as he shoved his hands in his pocket and continued walking.

"Yup~! I'm a high ranking member of White-Beard's crew. My name's Portgus D. Ace—in case you didn't hear from the other guy. But I'm usually known as 'Firefist Ace'." As he said that he brought up his right fist and Ichigo watched in wonder as the man's skin melded into a ball of fire. Ichigo could already feel the heat from it hitting his face and he blinked.

"So you ate some sort of fire fruit, then?"

Ace nodded and let his hand return to normal before placing it in his pocket once more. "Mera-mera Fruit." When Ichigo nodded, Ace decided to wait a moment before continuing the conversation. "Have you met any other Devil-Fruit users besides me and the jelly guy?" He asked and Ichigo couldn't help the amused snort at that 'jelly' part.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to answer, he froze when he felt a familiar reaitsu signature flare up.

_Grimmjow…_

He looked off into the trees in the direction of its source and wondered if he should go see what was happening. He quickly closed off his own reaitsu so that he couldn't be detected—if he hadn't been already—and then shook his head and continued walking forward.

Ace remained silent as he watched Ichigo tense up, but didn't question him. The teen had started walking forward again but both men stopped and jumped when there was a sudden loud roar. It echoed across the sky and bounced around the trees of the forest. They looked up and blinked when a small whirlwind appeared in the distance.

"Fucking Arrancar…" Ichigo cursed under his breath, instantly recognizing Grimmjow's shout, and then he jumped up into the sky and started making his way towards the disturbance.

Ace remained on the ground for a moment, debating whether or not he should get himself involved. So far the teen had indulged him in his questions but he only seemed to be putting up with his presence…

Ace was about to decide he was only annoying the shinigami, but then he thought about the cute blush that had peppered the orangette's cheeks and Ace couldn't help the smirk that spread across his lips. As he watched the teen get further and further away he huffed to himself and then shot off into the sky as well, using his fire ability to lift himself up off the ground.

When Ichigo's feet finally returned to the ground, he blinked and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

This whole piece of the forest had been completely leveled. It was a barren wasteland, and lying in the middle of the destruction were two bodies. Before running to them, Ichigo made sure there was no immediate danger. Once he was comfortable that there wasn't any threat, he quickly made his way to the unconscious bodies and knelt down to make sure they were okay. The one who seemed the most beat-up was none other than Grimmjow. He had deep gashes littering his arms and legs. Only a few scratches marred his chest or back, so Ichigo assumed he'd been mostly on the defensive—trying to block with his arms and legs. What was really curious though, was the fact that Grimmjow was in his resurrection form.

Who was he fighting that was strong enough to force him into that form…?

Ichigo pursed his lips and then looked to the other body. To his surprise it was Sanji.

The blonde didn't seem to be too banged up, a few bruises here and there, but upon closer look Ichigo could tell his arm was dislocated.

"Woah~ What the hell happened?"

Ichigo didn't have to turn to tell it was Ace who spoke.

"I don't know, but we have to get them out of here and take care of their injuries." Ichigo said and he jumped when Ace was suddenly kneeling right beside him.

He stared down at Sanji for a few long minutes before something seemed to click and he grinned.

"'Ey! I know that guy! I think his name was Sanji." Ace announced, seemingly proud of himself for some reason.

"Yeah, that's him. And this is Grimmjow… my _acquaintance_." Ichigo grumbled and then Ace gave him an interesting look.

"If you know Sanji then you must know my little brother!"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

'_Don't tell me…'_

"Luffy…?"

"Yup! So are you friends with him?"

Ichigo tried to stop the incoming blush, he really, truly did—but it forced its way up and consumed his entire face. He turned his face away to hide it, but Ace had already seen it, and it made the man smirk.

"I guess 'friends' wouldn't be the right term, would it?" He chuckled as he got up to stand beside Sanji. He inspected the blonde and noticed the injured arm. He took special care to not jostle it as he brought the man up to lie in his arms.

"I-it's nothing like that! I was just… educating him I guess… Uhm… He asked for… I don't…" Ichigo fumbled for words, but nothing he said seemed to come out the way he wanted. Ace only laughed even harder as he began walking away.

Ichigo huffed and then knelt beside Grimmjow. He took hold of the arrancar's right arm and slung it over his shoulder. As he moved the man around, Ichigo noticed how his resurrection form fell away from his body with each movement until he was back to his normal self. Once he had Grimmjow positioned onto his back so he could carry him, he looked around for the other's zanpakuto. He found it and quickly snatched it up, making sure not to move Grimmjow around too much in the process.

"You coming!?" Ace shouted for his spot by the trees.

Ichigo didn't bother shouting back as he ran towards him.

They both made their way through the forest. Neither of them spoke, and they didn't slow their pace as they looked for a good place to stop and rest. It was starting to get dark as the hours trickled by.

'_If there were people here like those idiots in that gang, then there has to be a village around here, right?_' He thought to himself.

Just when he was about to start slowing down, he noticed the soft glow of lights in the distance. It was hard to see passed the trees, but it was definitely there.

Ace must've noticed it too, because his step quickened all of a sudden.

Ichigo had to sprint with greater strides in order to keep up. When they finally got to the edge of the forest they slowed to a stop. Both men were panting and exhausted, but they seemed to rejuvenate as they gazed at the buildings standing before them. It was a large town, and Ichigo couldn't be more relieved.

"C'mon… Let's find a place to stay." Ace huffed out and then started walking forward, Ichigo following close behind.

About 30 minutes later found them in some run-down tavern that had rooms to rent. Unfortunately they only had one room available, so Ace booked it and at least they were able to provide them with extra blankets and two first-aid kits. Ichigo closed and locked the door behind them after thanking the nice woman who owned the place.

He turned and the first thing he noticed was how little furnishings there were in the small room. Not that he minded, the four of them needed as much room as they could manage. He slowly shifted Grimmjow and placed him onto the medium sized bed and Ace was able to get Sanji onto the bed as well. It was a snug fit, but it worked, and the bed was near the middle of the room, so it was easy to get to both 'patients'.

"I'll grab some water." Ichigo said and Ace only nodded before working on taking Sanji's shirt off so he could get a better look at the damage. Ichigo went towards the tiny bathroom located to the left and nearly sighed when he noticed there was no door, but then he shrugged it off when he located a wooden bucket. He filled it with water and brought it back to sit it beside Grimmjow's side of the bed.

He took Ace's lead and began undressing Grimmjow as well. There wasn't much left of the cloth as it was anyway because of all the cuts.

Once they had them down to their underwear, Ichigo ripped off a piece of Grimmjow's tattered jacket and used it as a rag so that he could dip it in the water and wash away the blood that had dried on his skin.

Ace waited a bit and Ichigo's head snapped up when he heard Sanji groan. The blonde went to sit up, but hissed in pain and slammed back onto the bed. He grabbed at his shoulder, but Ace immediately pried it away so that he couldn't hurt it more.

Sanji snapped his eyes open and looked towards Ace and then at Ichigo before shifting to the unconscious man beside him. Realization slowly dawned on him and he eventually let himself relax onto the bed.

Ace stood, catching his attention before speaking. "Sanji, you're arm is dislocated, I'm gonna need to pop it back into place…" Sanji only nodded his approval and went to sit up, but Ace shoved him back down. "Stay where you are and try to lift your arm." Sanji scrunched his brow in concentration and hesitantly lifted his arm as far as it would go. "Now make a tight fist." He did. "Now grit your teeth." As he said that, Ace took hold of Sanji's bicep and shifted it up and around expertly.

Sanji grunted in pain and Ichigo winced at the sound of the slight pop and scrape of bone against bone, but kept his hands busy with healing Grimmjow's cuts. He gently spread the antibiotic he found in the first-aid kit onto the deepest gashes. There weren't any cuts that looked like they needed stitches, but they definitely needed to be bandaged—so that was the next thing he did. He wasn't able to cover up all the scratches, but he made sure to get the bigger ones that may have a chance to open up and start bleeding again.

When he was finally done he looked up, only to find that Sanji was passed out.

Ace had moved to the other side of the room and sat with his back pressed against the door.

"Guess we'll have to wait a little longer before we find out what happened to them." He said with a shrug as he reached up and took off his hat. Ichigo sighed and then went to join the other, leaning back against the door and sliding down to the ground.

He was tired, and hungry as fuck.

Ace's stomach decided to growl at that moment as if to say '_me too!'_.

Ichigo looked over and they both chuckled. Ace shifted and reached into his pant's side pocket and pulled out a small leather bag. Ichigo watched curiously as he opened it up and revealed a handful of what looked like beef jerky.

He passed a piece to Ichigo, and the Shinigami immediately started nibbling on it.

"Thank you." He said through the mouthful, making Ace grin before digging into his own piece.

"Yup~ I always make sure I have something to eat. Not that we couldn't find something in town, but I don't have any more money after booking the room."

Ichigo nodded in understanding and was just grateful that the man seemed to be well supplied.

They finished off their jerky and sat in comfortable silence, until Ace got bored, of course.

"So I'm curious…" Ace started and Ichigo couldn't help the snort of amusement as he rolled his eyes.

"You haven't _stopped_ being curious since I've met you…"

Ace pouted at that, now feeling bad that he was being so nosey.

Ichigo sighed and waved his hand at the other's expression.

"I don't mind all that much. What was it you wanted to ask?"

The man hummed in thought for a second before leaning towards the orangette until he could whisper his query in the other's ear.

"I was wondering… What did you teach my lil' brother?"

Ichigo's face immediately burned bright scarlet and he looked towards the other nervously.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He whispered back and he was surprised his voice didn't waver.

Ace snickered at the reaction and then quickly snatched up the other and placed him in his lap so that Ichigo's legs were on either side of him.

"But didn't you say before that you were _educating_ him?"

Ichigo tried to get up off of the man's lap, but Ace kept him still by grabbing hold of his hips. The hold wasn't harsh, just firm—so, if Ichigo really wanted to, he could push the hands away, but for some reason he didn't do it.

Ichigo sat there, silently wondering what his next move should be.

He could either…

Punch the guy in the face and tell him to go screw himself.

Continue blushing like a little schoolgirl and answer him.

Or he could play along.

A switch seemed to turn on in Ichigo and he immediately stopped blushing and looked down at the man with hooded eyes. Ace watched the change and the smirk on his face seemed to double in size at the look he was receiving.

"You want me to tell you?" Ichigo spoke in a sinful voice, making little Ace instantly jump to life. Ichigo noticed and it seemed to rub his ego in all the right ways, especially when Ace's breath hitched as Ichigo moved his hips in a small up and down movement.

Ace hummed and let his smirk drop as he leaned back against the door, narrowed eyes watching Ichigo closely. He then used his hold on Ichigo's hips to keep him still as he began to gently thrust his pelvis against the body on top of him.

"I'd rather you _show_ me." Ace said in a soft, demanding voice.

Ichigo felt his blood boil in arousal and, to his chagrin, he was beginning to revert back into that schoolgirl faze. Ace's presence was suddenly very dominating and different from the happy-go-lucky attitude he usually seemed to have.

Ichigo, to further his embarrassment, actually squeaked when he felt a hand grab the back of his head and pull him into a kiss. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind when he felt lips move against his. He slowly let himself relax when Ace didn't push the kiss any further than that—just lips against lips. Ichigo shifted on the other's lap and, once his confidence returned, he opened his mouth and let his tongue slowly trail across Ace's bottom lip. Said man practically growled at that and Ichigo would've laughed if his mouth wasn't too busy being attacked by Ace's tongue and teeth.

Ichigo finally pulled himself away when he heard a groan come from the bed behind him.

Ace reluctantly let the orangette get up off his lap and grumbled at the loss. Ichigo ignored him as he made his way towards the bed.

This time it was Grimmjow moving around. Ichigo was by his side in an instant and he jumped in surprise when Grimmjow suddenly sat up and scrambled off the bed.

Ace sprang to his feet when Ichigo was abruptly snatched up by his throat and pressed against the wall. He raised his arm to attack the blue-haired man, but Ichigo quickly motioned for him to stand-down.

Ichigo winced and then looked back into Grimmjow's wavering eyes.

The arrancar didn't seem to be fully aware of his surroundings and Ichigo could tell that Grimmjow had no idea who he actually had pinned beneath his hands. Ichigo could tell because of the pure malice he saw reflected in those deep-blue orbs.

Even when they were enemies, Ichigo had never seen this much hatred directed at him. Annoyance—sure, disappointment—of course, hostility—yep, but never hatred.

"Grimmjow." Ichigo gasped out as the fingers around his throat tightened. "It's okay! You're not in any danger, you stupid smurf!" The old nickname seemed to snap Grimmjow back into reality and he instantly released the teen, letting him slide to the floor.

"Shit! Kurosaki, I didn' reali—fuckin' hell." Grimmjow hissed and grabbed his head as a headache began to form, making pain throb behind his eyes. Ichigo took in a few deep breaths before standing back to his feet. At this Grimmjow snapped his gaze up and nearly growled, "Where the _fuck_ were you!? We all went lookin' for you! Ya jus' fuckin' disappeared without tellin' anyone!" He shouted as he got up in the other's face. Ichigo felt guilt swell inside him and quickly changed the subject.

"What happened to you and Sanji? And where are the others?"

Grimmjow tightened his lips and he looked like he was about to revert the conversation back at Ichigo, but then something seemed to snap the arrancar into attention, and his eyes widened. He must've been remembering what happened.

"You'll neva guess who's here…" He said, and his eyes suddenly turned cold and hard.

Ichigo crossed his arms and tried to prepare himself for the information that was about to be revealed.

"Who?"

"Sousuke mother-fuckin' Aizen."

…

..

.

**TBC**

_Sorry about the lack of sexy-time, my ducklings~~ But I wanted to finish introducing the major characters I would be using. I think this chapter introduced the last two I wanted. There might be a few more that pop up in the future, but I'm good for now. Hopefully since it was a longer chapter, you guys are happy anyway_

_So yeah, I figured I'd throw in some AceXIchigo yumminess_

_Hope it was okay_

_Lord knows, I'm trying __**not**__ to make this into an Ichi-Harem, but I think it's too late for that…_

_GAWD ICHIGO, STOP SLUTTING AROUND! _

_Hehhehheh~~~_

_But yeah, I'll be updating my other stories next, so don't expect anything here for a little while_

_First, Times it by Ten_

_Then Debauched Demons_


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